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100th Aegis System Delivered for Destroyer Named for 'Father of Aegis'

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS061129-04
Release Date: 11/29/2006 4:33:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) Chad A. Bricks, Navy News Service

MOORESTOWN, N.J. (NNS) -- The Navy received the 100th Aegis weapon system from Lockheed Martin, Nov. 27, and announced it would be installed into a guided-missile destroyer named in honor of the man recognized as the 'Father of Aegis,' retired Rear Adm. Wayne E. Meyer.

The centenial Aegis system that will be installed in the furture USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) comes more than 20 years after the first system was delivered to the Navy in 1983 and, according to Lockheed Martin, has eight-times more computing power and costs 66 percent less than the first Aegis baseline.

Aegis is widely considered to be the Navy's most successful air defense weapon system and multi-mission combat system in history.

Rear Adm. Meyer was on hand for the ceremony. Remembering something Adm. Arleigh Burke said in the 1950s about integrity, Meyer said he hopes the ship named in his honor, and the Sailors who will sail on her decks, will embody integrity.

"I've tried to lead that way, I've tried to be that way, I've tried to raise my kids that way," Meyer said. "And I'm hoping that the Wayne E. Meyer has the capacity also to recognize it."

"Adm. Meyer reminds us that a ship has a name for a reason. Indeed the namesake of a warship inspires the crew and instills a fighting spirit. To have one's name immortalized in an Aegis warship is a high honor indeed," said Adm. Mike Mullen, Chief of Naval Operations. "And that is why DDG 108 will forever be known as United States Ship Wayne E. Meyer."

Meyer recognized the fact that the 100th Aegis system, a program he began, will be part of the warship named for him.

"The only honor greater than being allowed to find, create and lead the greatest engineering production team the Navy has ever had in our dimension is to know your name will be long associated with the wonderful Sailors, the men and women, who crew and fight the product of that team," Meyer said.

Mullen praised Meyer's decades of effort on the 'shield of the fleet,' as Sailors have come to call Aegis.

"It is clear that Adm. Meyer's principals of 'build a little, test a little' innovation and sound system engineering are the model we must continue to follow. It is a model which is reflected soundly in the 100th system today," Mullen said. "Every Aegis system needs a home, as well, and this centennial system is no exception."

According to Mullen, the Aegis system aligns with the U.S. and allied nations' goals to build an international "1,000 ship Navy." Variations of the Aegis baseline system are already in the hulls of Japanese, South Korean, and Spanish ships at sea.

Mullen credits the ability to achieve the thousand ship Navy partially to the Aegis system. "To do that we must be able to talk to each other, and it is open systems that will enable us to work together as one," he told the hundreds in attendance.

To close the ceremony, Meyer, along with Lockheed Martin and Navy officials, ceremoniously 'pulled the plug' on the surface-to-air defense system. Pulling the plug acknowledged Lockheed Martin's final step in delivering the system to the Navy.