Navy to Integrate PAC-3 Missiles on Aegis Guided-Missile Destroyers

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy has finalized its decision to integrate Advanced Capability 3 Missile Segment Enhancements aboard its warships, Lockheed Martin announced this week. The sea service will integrate the PAC-3 MSEs with the service’s ubiquitous Mark 41 vertical launching systems and Aegis Combat System, both of which make up the backbone of U.S. naval air defense. The decision, announced at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space symposium, coincides with the high tempo of Aegis-equipped destroyers and cruisers engaging aerial threats across the Middle East and concerns of reinforcing the U.S. naval stockpiles of air defense systems in a conflict