DALLAS — Lockheed Martin announced Monday it received a $66 million follow-on contract from the Missile Defense Agency to continue development of a ground-based high-altitude intercept missile that was once tested on Kaua‘i. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Weapon
DALLAS — Lockheed Martin announced Monday it received a $66 million follow-on contract from the Missile Defense Agency to continue development of a ground-based high-altitude intercept missile that was once tested on Kaua‘i.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Weapon System received a five-year Advanced Capability Development contract as part of an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity award. It provides for three years of engineering services including flight tests, maintenance, execution of Ballistic Missile Defense System studies and threat assessments.
Since 2005, the THAAD program has successfully completed 12 flight tests, with nine-for-nine intercepts. The latest mission was an operational test conducted at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua‘i by THAAD soldiers from Fort Bliss, Texas.
Soldiers from Alpha-4 of the 11th Air Defense Artillery Imperial Brigade, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, launched two THAAD interceptors in December that destroyed two different targets.
“There are not currently funds in the contract that support THAAD testing efforts at PMRF,” said Lockheed Martin spokesperson Cheryl Amerine. “The contract covers a five-year period, so the Missile Defense Agency could be potentially adding scope to the contract in the future for future flight testing at PMRF.”
The funds in this ACD contract are to provide lab and infrastructure support for all development activities in the program, Amerine said.
THAAD is the only missile defense system to intercept in both the endo- and exo-atmospheres and provides versatile capability to the warfighter.
The Missile Defense Agency program is located in Huntsville, Ala. The agency is developing systems to defend against ballistic missiles at all ranges and in all phases of flight.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 123,000 people worldwide. It contributes to all major U.S. missile defense systems and in several global missile defense partnerships.
