According to a press release published on January 14, 2020, Teledyne Technologies Incorporated announced that its subsidiary, Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., was awarded an $18 million contract from Northrop Grumman to manufacture four additional Surface-to-Surface Missile Module (SSMM) units for the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
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U.S. sailors from the USS Detroit (LCS-7) complete a successful launch of the Longbow Hellfire Missile. The USS Detroit is operating in the Atlantic Ocean supporting testing of the LCS Surface Ship Missile Module SSMM. (Picture source U.S. Navy)
Teledyne Brown Engineering will manufacture, assemble and test the SSMMs at the company's main facility in Huntsville, Alabama. This is Teledyne's second award to build the hardware, which initially began under contract in September 2019. Once the systems are complete, they will be integrated with Launch Control Assemblies and other equipment into the modules. Teledyne Brown Engineering, along with Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy, will validate the system using SSMM-specific software and emulators.
The SSMM is a modular weapons system, which fires Longbow Hellfire Missiles and complements the Gun Mission Module (GMM), also manufactured by Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville. These modules provide additional capabilities to the Littoral Combat Ships which are used for defense against swarming Fast Attack Craft/Fast Inshore Attack Craft (FAC/FIAC), counter-piracy, maritime interdiction, and security missions.
"We are pleased to announce the continuation of our collaboration with Northrop Grumman to deliver state-of-the-art enhancements to our nation's military," stated Jan Hess, President of Teledyne Brown Engineering.
Teledyne Brown Engineering has supported this program and its mission for over a decade building Littoral Combat Ship Mission Modules.
The SSMM is one of four modules comprising the LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) Surface Warfare Mission Package. Using Army Longbow Hellfire surface-to-surface missiles in a vertical launch capability to counter small boat threats, SSMM increases both the range and the number of targets LCS can engage.
