Christine Thropp
USS Jack H. Lucas, a Huntington Ingalls Industries-built guided missile destroyer for the U.S. Navy, started its combat system testing more than half a year after it was launched from the shipbuilder’s location in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The destroyer being integrated with AN/SPY-6(V)1 air and missile defense radar from a Raytheon Technologies business recorded Aegis system “light off” and marked the series of tests that looks to ensure that all combat system equipment are operational and communicative, Raytheon Missiles and Defense said Monday.
Huntington Ingalls and the Raytheon subsidiary are working to equip USS Jack H. Lucas with SPY-6 designed for seven classes of Navy ships to help them simultaneously defend against a number of threats including ballistic and cruise missiles.
Kim Ernzen, vice president of naval power at Raytheon Missiles and Defense, said the milestone also kicked off training with naval crews on the SPY-6 radars.
