LM, MDA open BMD target integration plant

COURTLAND, Ala., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Lockheed Martin have opened a plant to integrate targets for the BMD program.

Lockheed Martin said in a statement last week that it and the MDA had "inaugurated the new Targets and Countermeasures Single Integration Capability (facility) in Courtland, Ala."

"The Courtland capability will provide the most efficient, effective method for assembling and integrating realistic targets for the Ballistic Missile Defense System," Lockheed Martin said.

Lockheed Martin said that, as the MDA’s prime contractor for Targets and Countermeasures, it would "deliver targets from Courtland to ranges around the globe to test Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, Aegis, Ground-based Midcourse, Airborne Laser, sensors and other Ballistic Missile Defense System elements -- demonstrating both element- and system-level capabilities against current and future threats to the U.S., friends, allies and troops abroad."

“Missile defense has become an increasingly important part of our national defense,” Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala., said at the plant's opening. “With this new capability I believe Lockheed Martin will continue to be a leader in the field, benefiting not only Courtland and North Alabama, but the nation as well.”

Linda Reiners, vice president, Lockheed Martin Missile Defense Systems for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., said the company chose Courtland for the new facility "because of our confidence in the workforce and our dedication to the community.”

Lockheed Martin said the MDA’s Targets and Countermeasures Program "provides targets and countermeasures designed to represent adversary missiles to permit realistic testing of the weapons systems and other elements of MDA’s Ballistic Missile Defense System."