ICBM defense system

MDA Awards Northrop Grumman $3B Deal to Modernize Ground-Based Anti-ICBM System

Northrop Grumman has received a contract potentially worth $3 billion from the Missile Defense Agency for the integration and management of weapon systems designed to defend the United States homeland from potential intercontinental ballistic missiles from North Korea and Iran. The deal calls for the provision of design, development, verification, deployment and sustainment support of new capabilities for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense Weapon System Program, Defense News reported Tuesday.

The program entails updating and modernizing the GMD system’s ground components to better meet future missile threats, according to a top Northrop executive. Scott Lehr, Northrop’s vice president of launch and missile defense systems, said the effort will result in improved capabilities to neutralize evolving threats through the use of advanced missile warning and tracking space satellites. He added that the company is committed to delivering end-to-end capabilities that will protect the U.S. and its allies.

Separately, Northrop has teamed up with Raytheon Technologies to compete against a Lockheed Martin and Aerojet Rocketdyne team for the contract to replace the GMD’s ground-based interceptors with next-generation interceptors.

Vice Adm. Jon Hill, the MDA’s director, was quoted as saying that industry partnerships are better suited for the job of modernizing the GMD system because of the complexity of the work involved. Hill, a former speaker at the Potomac Officers Club, said the agency needs one contractor to provide sustainment for existing GBIs and another one to supply the NGIs.