More firms join Lockheed for contract bid

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Aug. 18 (UPI) -- More companies have joined Lockheed Martin for a planned bid for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Development and Sustainment Contract.

Final bids for the award from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency contract will be called for this year. The contract winner will be announced in 2011.

The contract covers development, manufacturing, testing, training, operations support and sustainment support for the ground-based element of the U.S. missile defense shield to protect the country from attack by intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles.

Lockheed said its new Huntsville-based partners are Dynetics Inc., QuantiTech Inc., ARES Corp., CohesionForce Inc., IroquoiSystems Inc., ATK Aerospace Systems, Bechtel National Inc., Harris Corp., Imprimis Inc., Oregon Iron Works Inc., and TDX Power Inc.

Expertise provided by the companies range from cyber support training and systems engineering to missile field power supply.

"These companies form a best-of-industry team that provides unmatched credentials for this critical missile defense contract," said Mathew J. Joyce, GMD vice president and program manager, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. "Each partner company brings the technical know-how, domain expertise and mission understanding needed for the development and sustainment of this key strategic asset.

"The composition of our team also reflects the key role of Alabama in this element of the nation's Ballistic Missile Defense System. As prime contractor and systems integrator, Lockheed Martin's program office will be headquartered in Huntsville, and we will have operations at each GMD site, aided by our partners to assure customer responsiveness and efficiency."

Lockheed said that in addition to Huntsville, work would be performed at Fort Greely, Alaska; Eareckson Air Station, Alaska; Schriever Air Force Base, Colo.; and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

Raytheon, Alaska Aerospace Corp. and NANA Development Corp. had joined the Lockheed team earlier.