Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Navy's Ever-Evolving Aegis Combat System

The Aegis Combat System, aptly named after the shield of the Greek god Zeus, represented an absolute revolution in how naval surface warfare could be conducted when it first emerged in an operational form nearly four decades ago. At its core, Aegis was a monumental technological triumph made possible by combining advances in computers, sensors, weapons, communications, and human interfaces into a highly automated system the likes of which would have been considered science fiction not long before its arrival. Since then, Aegis has grown massively in capability and has largely dictated what is possible when it comes to the ability of warships to exert control over the massive volumes of air and sea surrounding them.