US Missile Defense System: The United States Missile Defense Agency has selected US defence giant Lockheed Martin and its partner Aeroject Rocketdyne to deliver the nation’s most advanced missile defense system, the Next Generation Interceptor, the company announced on Tuesday.
The $3.7 billion contract for Next Generation Interceptor is the first step in the development and demonstration phase delivering on the Missile Defense Agency‘s requirements to modernize the current Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, said the US defence and aerospace giant.
Lockheed Martin said the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) is specifically designed to meet environmental survivability needs and to enable the warfighter to outpace adversary threats for homeland defense.
According to the company, the contract will develop the interceptor all-up-round, which includes both the booster and hit-to-kill payload and will launch from the current GBI silo infrastructure in Ft. Greely, AK and Vandenberg AFB, CA.
“We are excited and proud the MDA entrusted Lockheed Martin to lead the development of this game-changing system that will greatly improve our nation’s security for decades to come,” said Sarah Reeves, vice president of Next Generation Interceptor Program at Lockheed Martin.
“We have been working toward supporting never-fail missions such as NGI for decades, and our team has the expertise and shared vision required to deliver on the MDA’s need to evolve GMD,” Reeves added.
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Missile launch under the US Defense Missile System.
Missile Defense: First line of defence
The next generation interceptor missile is a defense interceptor program designed to protect and defend the U.S. from intercontinental ballistic missiles.
This program will serve as a first line of a layered missile defense architecture against evolving threats from rogue nations and is a national priority for the MDA and U.S. Northern Command.
“The first interceptor will be fielded ahead of the nation’s need,” said the Bethesda headquartered company.
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$580 million investment
According to the company, it leveraged $580-million investment in multi-object kill vehicle technology, hit-to-kill experience on THAAD and decades providing strategic systems to the U.S. Navy Trident program.
The NGI system design provides significant enhancement from the onset with the ability to respond to multiple threats with a single interceptor.
This significant advance, coupled with a refreshed approach to design for maintainability and reliability, provide the operational availability the warfighter requires.
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Cost improvements and affordability enabled by digital engineering are at the core of Lockheed Martin’s design.
Lockheed Martin said it has assembled the most complete and competent team to deliver on this national priority program.
The team includes Aerojet Rocketdyne, Honeywell, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Valley Tech Systems, Systima, Vigor Industrial, Wind River Systems, and Green Hills Software, as well as key contributions from IERUS, i3, H2L Solutions, Geocent, Fifth Gate, and nLogic.
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