The US Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman a $334.4 million contract modification to produce up to nine additional Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 3 electronic attack (EA) systems, including the first shipset for installation on a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN).
Valued at up to $783 million if all options are exercised, the sole-source award means that Northrop Grumman is now on contract to deliver up to 24 SEWIP Block 3 systems to the US surface fleet. As the latest in a series of incremental upgrades to the US Navy’s AN/SLQ-32(V) electronic warfare system, SEWIP Block 3 integrates an advanced non-kinetic EA subsystem to the architecture of the existing AN/SLQ-32(V)6/SEWIP Block 2 electronic support system to create the AN/SLQ-32(V)7 configuration.
SEWIP Block 3 provides a wideband onboard EA capability designed to counter anti-ship missile threats as well as land-based, shipboard, and airborne targeting platforms. The technical solution developed by Northrop Grumman adopts active electronically scanned arrays based on Gallium Nitride transmit/receive modules, and capitalises on technology previously matured and de-risked under the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR’s) Integrated Topside programme.
Initial SEWIP Block 3 ship fits, being embodied as part of the DDG MOD 2.0 modernisation effort, involve the retrofit of a so-called ‘Hemisphere’ configuration to DDG-51 Flight IIA guided missile destroyers. USS Pinckney (DDG-91), the first ship to receive the AN/SLQ-32(V)7 system, is currently deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation ‘Epic Fury’.
Although Northrop Grumman has not identified the first CVN to receive SEWIP Block 3, US FY2026 budget documents suggest that USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) is currently slated to receive the system. Harry S. Truman is planned to begin a five-year refuelling and complex overhaul period at Newport News Shipbuilding in mid-2026.
Whereas the ‘Hemisphere’ configuration on the DDG-51 Flight IIA groups new SEWIP Block 3 antennas and electronics on the port and starboard sides of the main deckhouse block, the CVN installation will feature a modified ‘Quadrant’ configuration. The ‘Quadrant’ fit will repackage and redistribute hardware building blocks around the carrier.
Another change concerns combat system integration. Whereas SEWIP Block 3 is being integrated with Aegis Baseline 10.M on the DDG-51 Flight IIA, the CVN embodiment will see the AN/SLQ-32(V)7 system integrate with the Ship Self-Defense System MK 2 Baseline 12.
Alongside the production of SEWIP Block 3 systems, Northrop Grumman is leveraging the same core EA technology and architecture to develop a Scaled Onboard Electronic Attack (SOEA) solution suitable for surface combatants unable to accommodate the weight and volume requirements of a SEWIP Block 3 installation. Designed with low size, weight and power in mind, SOEA – a Middle Tier of Acquisition effort that leverages technology previously developed by the ONR and the Naval Research Laboratory – will assimilate into the wider SEWIP family of shipboard EW systems, and integrate with the AN/SLQ-32(V)6 system delivered under SEWIP Block 2.
Northrop Grumman was one of two companies last year awarded a rapid prototyping contract for SOEA. Phase 1 scope covers prototyping of critical technology elements to validate performance, architecture, functionality and support, culminating with prototype deliveries for at-sea demonstration.
Lockheed Martin has also received a Phase 1 rapid prototyping contract. Its SOEA approach draws on SEWIP Block 2 and work on the now cancelled AN/ALQ-248 Advanced Offboard Electronic Warfare pod.