USS Shoup (DDG 86), the newest in a series of advanced Aegis guided missile destroyers built for the U.S. Navy by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems sector has been commissioned recently. 9,300-ton destroyer is the 36th ship of the Aegis destroyer program and the 16th to be built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. The ship is the fourth of the revised Flight IIA ships with hangars for two SH-60B/F helicopters and an enlarged flight deck.

Following DDG 86, Northrop Grumman has contracts to produce nine additional Aegis destroyers, with six of those ships in various stages of production. Aegis destroyers are equipped to conduct a variety of missions, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection. These multimission ships provide primary protection for the Navy's aircraft carriers and battle groups, as well as essential escort to Navy and Marine Corps amphibious forces, combat logistics ships and convoys. DDG 86 carries Tomahawk Cruise missiles for land attack, as well as standard missiles to intercept hostile aircraft and missiles at extended ranges. Its undersea warfare suite is the most advanced system in the world. Four gas turbine engines power the destroyer to speeds in excess of 30 knots.