The Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] a $57 million contract to upgrade electronic warfare defenses against anti-ship missiles, the company said yesterday.

Lockheed Martin is tasked with upgrading the AN/SLQ-32(V)2 electronic warfare system deployed on aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and other surface combatants and is designed to alert sailors if potential adversaries are using sensors to track their ship.

The contract covers low-rate production for Block 2 of the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP).

“The SEWIP block 2 upgrade will ensure the AN/SLQ-32 system continues to outpace the threat and establishes a framework to easily install future upgrades,” Joe Ottaviano, Lockheed Martin’s director for the SEWIP program, said.

He added that the upgrade uses available commercial components as part of an architecture strategy for allowing the quick introduction of new technology.