Aegis combat system
© Flickr/ Gonzalo Alonso
The Department of Defense announced that the US Navy has ordered Aegis systems costing nearly half a billion dollars' for the navies of Japan and South Korea under the Foreign Military Sales program.

The US Navy has ordered Aegis systems costing nearly half a billion dollars' for the navies of Japan and South Korea under the Foreign Military Sales program, the Department of Defense announced.

"Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training [of] Moorestown, New Jersey, is being awarded a $490.6 million... contract for the production of Aegis Weapon System MK-7 ship sets and... support equipment," the announcement stated on Friday.

The Aegis systems and engineering support will be supplied to the United States, the government of Japan and the government of South Korea under the Foreign Military Sales program, the Defense Department said.

In a separate contract worth another $112 million that was announced the same day, the US Navy commissioned Lockheed Martin to upgrade Aegis systems for the US surface fleet.

"This procurement covers the production of multi-mission signal processor equipment sets; ballistic missile defense 4.0.2 equipment; AEGIS weapon system... upgrade equipment; and associated spares," the Defense Department stated.

The new equipment was being provided under the Aegis Modernization or AMOD program, the announcement added.