US Navy advances on Scaled Onboard Electronic Attack system

USS Pinckney is the first ship to receive the full SEWIP Block 3 installation, shown here with the new antennas being accommodated in an enlarged deckhouse. (Richard Scott/NAVYPIX)

The US Navy (USN) has funded two companies to pursue accelerated development of a small footprint shipborne electronic attack (EA) system for integration in surface warships unable to accommodate the full AN/SLQ-32(V)7 suite being acquired under the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 3 effort, according to justification documents released as part of the navy's fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request.

Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have both been awarded Phase 1 rapid prototyping contracts under the Scaled Onboard Electronic Attack (SOEA) programme, the documents show.

SOEA is a Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) initiative that leverages technology previously developed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

Developed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman, SEWIP Block 3 is delivering an enhanced EA capability to the US fleet by integrating an active electronically scanned array, waveform generation, and jamming techniques with the existing Lockheed Martin-built AN/SLQ-32(V)6 electronic surveillance suite to provide both anti-ship missile defence (ASMD) and force counter-targeting capabilities.

This AN/SLQ-32(V)7 system configuration is planned to equip DDG 51 guided missile destroyers (DDGs), nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (CVNs), and large-deck amphibious ships (landing helicopter assault ships [LHAs]/landing platform docks [LPDs]).

For more information on the DDG effort, please see Special Report: US Navy DDG upgrades continue despite budget and testing concerns .

A first installation has been completed on the DDG 51 Flight IIA destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91).

However, SEWIP Block 3 imposes a substantial size, weight, power, and cooling (SWaP-C) burden on the host ship, USN officials acknowledge.