Here’s who will compete head-to-head to build the next homeland missile defense predictor

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to include comments from Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has selected Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to go head-to-head in a competition to provide a next-generation supporter to replace the Alaska and California ground investigators designed around the United States to defend against ballistic missiles. attacks by North Korea and Iran.

Boeing made a bid with team members General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems and Aerojet Rocketdyne to build the Next-Generation Interceptor (NGI), but was not selected to continue the effort. The company has an extensive history with the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system that exists in Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and has held the contract for development and sustainability for many years.

The contract has an estimated maximum value of $ 1.6 billion until fiscal 2022 and will carry both designs in the phase of technology development and risk mitigation of the program, according to a March 23 announcement by the Pentagon. “This award will ensure that NGI is an efficient and effective component of an integrated Missile Defense System solution,” the statement said.

The Pentagon announced in August 2019 its intention to build a new NGI after the Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV) program – which would upgrade the GBI with the ability to enter more complex threats – suddenly died. RKV struggled with insurmountable technical problems that resulted in delayed schedules and cost increases.

About eight months later, MDA announced a request for proposals for its NGI with the aim of opting back to two companies that would then compete for the right to build the interceptor.

A team from Northrop Grumman and Raytheon announced their intention to bid together in May 2020.

Lockheed Martin partnered with Aerojet Rocketdyne in October. The company announced its plans to buy Aerojet in December.

“NGI is the result of the first holistic technical assessment of homeland defense that the department has conducted since initial system operations began in 2004,” said Vice-Adm. Jon Hill, the director of the Missile Defense Agency, said in the statement.

‘By planning to transport two suppliers through technology development, MDA will maximize the benefits of competition to deliver the most efficient and reliable defense missile to the warrior as soon as possible. Once this new home defense interceptor is offered, it will be able to defeat the expected threat in the 2030s and beyond, ‘he added.

The selection of two rivals for NGI was expected to be at the end of last year, but approval of the plan was delayed until the defense secretary and deputy defense secretary were in place in the new Biden administration.

The NGI program “is critical to the protection of our country. Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Technologies offer an innovative solution that satisfies the threat complexity with advanced technology and leading-edge domain knowledge, answering all threat scenarios, “said Scott Lehr, Northrop Vice President and General Manager of Launch and Rocket Defense, and Bryan Rosselli, Raytheon’s Vice President of Strategic Missile Defense, said in a statement sent to Defense News.

“We are honored to be selected by the MDA as the main contractor to develop the NGI system to protect our country from advanced missile attacks,” Lehr said, adding: “there is a critical timeline to harness this capability and our team brings the industry’s leading talent for missile defense, agile design and manufacturing practices, and modern operational factories to support the MDA and our country’s defense against these looming threats. ”

“We are bringing the next generation of technologies – digital engineering and game-changing discrimination – to an extremely advanced interceptor,” Rosselli said. ‘This team builds on unparalleled experience and is responsible for all 47 previous U.S. atmosphere interceptions. With the knowledge, we also accept innovative ways to accelerate the deployment of the operation and at the same time reduce the risk. ”

Raytheon was the developer of RKV as a subcontractor for Boeing.

“We are excited and proud that the MDA has entrusted Lockheed Martin with changing the development of this system that will improve the security of our country for decades to come,” said Sarah Reeves, vice president of the NGI program at Lockheed Martin, said statement to Defense News.

Lockheed’s program is headquartered in Huntsville, with Reeves leading the team.

Boeing said in a statement to Defense News that “it is disappointed that the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has not promoted our team to the next stage of the competition in the development of the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) competition. We propose to Upgrading the current ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, the company used more than 60 years of experience with missile and weapon systems to deliver an NGI solution that emphasized an innovative design with increased flexibility and modularity. ”

The company added: “While it is premature to comment on the next steps until we participate in the formal session, it is important to note that today’s announcement does not affect our commitment to the MDA and the mission. “From the GMD system, our dedicated employees and partners will continue to manage the current system and continually explore ways to support the warrior in an evolving threat environment.”