Lockheed Martin introduces upgraded MK 41 VLS production line

Representatives of Lockheed Martin and Navy at the ceremonial reopening of the MK 41 Vertical Launching System. Photo: courtesy of Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Lockheed Martin has introduced an upgraded MK 41 vertical launching system (VLS) production line at its Middle River, Maryland facility, US.

Under a previously awarded $235.3m firm-fixed-price contract by the US Navy, which extends until 2022, Lockheed designed and developed MK 41 VLS electronic and mechanical modules and related equipment.

Comparison: Russian Navy Slava-class and US Navy Ticonderoga-class Cruisers in Combat

Analysis by Konstantin Sivkov, Ph.D. (military sciences)
Military expert Konstantin Sivkov, a member of the Russian Academy of Rocket, Missile and Artillery Sciences, Ph.D. (military sciences), has assessed a hypothetical battle between a Russian Navy Project 1164 Atlant-class (NATO reporting name: Slava-class) missile cruiser and a US Navy Ticonderoga-class cruiser. The calculation has been performed for each of the compared ships. It has covered all of the missions considered and possible courses of action, and the calculation of an integral effectiveness index of the ships.

Slava-class
The Project 1164 Atlant-class Moskva missile cruiser has a total displacement of 11,500 tons, a length of 186.5 m, a complement of 510, a full speed of 32 knots and a range of 6,000 nm. The Moskva is currently being modernized and repaired which should extend the life of the ship until the end of the 2020s. Another vessel of the same class, the Marshal Ustinov has just been refitted.

HMS Defender (D36) Air Defense / Guided Missile Destroyer, United Kingdom

The British Royal Navy has ordered six of the Type 45 "Air Defense Destroyers" for its fleet. Due to its lead ship naming ("HMS Daring (D32)"), the class is also recognized as the Daring-class. The Type 45 group succeeded the older Type 42 which entered service during the Cold War in 1975. The Type 45 ships have been in active service since July of 2009 when HMS Daring was commissioned.