Northrop slated to deliver surface EW system to carriers in 2028

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Northrop Grumman expects to begin delivering its surface electronic warfare capability to aircraft carriers in 2028, a company executive told Breaking Defense.

“We are building the first configuration to support the aircraft carriers as well, and that’s slated for 2028,” Montá Harrell, senior director of programs for maritime electronic & information warfare at Northrop, said during an interview at the Sea Air Space exposition, referring to the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP).

SEWIP is an upgrade to AN/SLQ-32 system, designed to provide electronic attack capabilities to the fleet as well as self-protection against anti-ship missiles along with early detection, signal analysis and threat warning. In March Northrop announced it was issued a modification to its original SEWIP contract to produce an additional nine ship sets beyond its initial 24, to include the first shipset for carriers.

“We have what we call a DDG configuration, and then we have an aircraft carrier configuration. We’re going to produce that, and we’re going to deliver that to the Navy in 2028 time frame,” Harrell said.

Northrop deferred to the Navy when asked which carrier is slated for the first delivery in 20208. A spokesperson for the Navy didn’t immediately respond.