Turkish firm joins NATO BMD support effort

ANKARA, Turkey, April 29 (UPI) -- Turkish defense electronics company Aselsan has joined a multinational industry team for engineering support of NATO's Ballistic Missile Defense program.

The team, led by Leidos of the United States, will provide engineering and integration support for the NATO BMD capability, including BMD enhancements to NATO command, control and communications systems, and refinement and maintenance of the NATO BMD architecture.

Members of the Leidos-led team include companies from Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The team's work comes under the NATO BMD System Engineering, Integration and Test contract, a four-year firm fixed-price vehicle worth $77 million if all options -- two one-year options and one seven-month option -- are exercised.

"Being a developer of system architecture for future BMD requirements, Aselsan ensures NATO and team-members that Aselsan is committed to transfer know-how gained in the field of BMD in full service of NATO, its agencies and member states," the company said.