The Missile Defense Agency has awarded Lockheed Martin an $80.6 million fixed-price contract for modified ballistic re-entry vehicles and separation modules for missile defense tests. Under the contract, Lockheed Martin will develop and produce unarmed re-entry vehicles for integration into target missiles through 2022. The contract also includes options for additional modified re-entry vehicles and mission support.

"The re-entry vehicle is essentially the bullseye for an interceptor missile, and it is also one of the most complex parts of the target," said Sarah Reeves, vice president of Missile Defense Programs at Lockheed Martin Space. "In today's environment, it's incredibly important to test against threat-representative targets that look like enemy missiles, and we are proud to continue to provide that capability to the Missile Defense Agency."

The modified re-entry vehicles will be designed and produced in Huntsville, Alabama, by a Lockheed Martin team with decades of experience with missile defense targets. Subcontractors include Huntsville companies Dynetics, Inc., which will provide the aeroshell structures, and Battelle, which will provide the hit detection system.

Instead of carrying warheads, modified ballistic re-entry vehicles carry sensors to measure the accuracy and effectiveness of the target, interceptor and missile defense system. Testing against a capable, threat-representative re-entry vehicle helps ensure the ballistic missile defense system is ready to detect and destroy enemy missiles.

Since 1996, Lockheed Martin has helped the Missile Defense Agency's systems keep pace with threats and delivered more than 50 threat-representative missile targets and 36 modified ballistic re-entry vehicles.

As the world's leader in air and missile defense systems and technologies, Lockheed Martin delivers integrated missile defense solutions that protect citizens, critical assets and deployed forces from current and future threats. The company's experience spans missile design and production, hit-to-kill capabilities, infrared seekers, command and control/battle management, and communications, precision pointing and tracking optics, radar and signal processing, as well as threat-representative targets for missile defense tests.

Source: prnewswire.com