WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin has won a nearly $1 billion contract to continue its engineering and support work on the Aegis ballistic missile defense weapon system.
The company announced the new $980 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency on Tuesday.
"Work under the contract will be performed at the Bethesda, MD., defense contractor's facility in Moorestown, N.J., and is expected to be completed by December 2010," Lockheed Martin said in a statement.
"The Aegis ballistic missile defense system is being developed jointly by the Navy and the Missile Defense Agency as part of the nation's missile defense system. Ultimately, 15 Aegis destroyers and three Aegis cruisers will be outfitted with the ability to engage intermediate range ballistic missiles," Lockheed Martin said.
"Currently, six Aegis-equipped warships have the ability to engage ballistic missiles, while another 10 have Aegis ballistic missile defense long-range surveillance and tracking capability," it said.
The company noted in its statement that so far it had won about $1.8 billion in work on the Aegis ballistic missile defense system since 2003."
USAF Japan base gets new BMD info system
A U.S. air base in Japan will be operating with a new missile information processing system for ballistic missile defense this summer.
The new mobile information processing system for ballistic missile defense operations should be up and running at the Misawa air base in the Aomori Prefecture by mid-2007, the Kyodo news agency reported Saturday.
The new system "picks up and analyzes satellite data on ballistic missile launches," the Kyodo report said, citing what it called "local sources."
Kyodo noted that the Misawa base is used both by the U.S. Air Force and by Japan's Air Self-Defense Force.
The report noted that the Aomori Prefecture was already a center for BMD-related installations as a U.S. X-band radar was set up at another Japanese air base there at Tsugaru last year.
"The strengthening of ballistic missile defense is stirring concerns among locals," the Kyodo report said.
The new system is known as the Joint Tactical Ground Station, or JTAGS, Kyodo said. It involves using "a vehicle with information processing machines and three satellite antennas," the Japanese news agency said.
JTAGS "is designed to receive data signaling the launch of a ballistic missile from early-warning satellites, analyze the projected impact location of the missile and convey the information to the U.S. military and the Defense Ministry," the report said.
Aerojet to build THAAD boost motors
The Aerojet aerospace company in California is about to commence the building of boost motors for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, the Sacramento Business Journal reported Monday.
The work will be carried out as part of a contract with Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the project the newspaper said. Aerojet is a division of GenCorp Inc., and is located in Rancho Cordova, Calif.
The contract "marks the beginning of THAAD production in Sacramento and will provide production through at least 2009," Charlie Meraz, Aerojet's THAAD program manager told the Sacramento Business Journal. "We look forward to providing this unique missile defense capability in support of the nation and its allies," he said.
USAF hosts Pacific Command BMD conference
The U.S. Air Force hosted a conference on ballistic missile defense at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii later last month, Air Force News reported Tuesday.
"Service members and civilians from across the Pacific met at Hickam late February for a conference to discuss ballistic missile defense for the PACOM Area of Responsibility," AFN said.
Lt. Gen. Chip Utterback, 13th Air Force commander, told AFN the conference, "allowed us to bring our experts in Ballistic Missile Defense and our Joint Interface Control Officers to compare tactics, techniques, and procedures to understand what the different services ... bring to the table."
"Ultimately the goal of the conference is just to get everybody together in the PACOM arena and talk about communications, talk about how we're going to work together, talk about how we're going to link together. So that we can do it successfully when we need to," Captain Karen Clarke, 94th Army Air Missile Defense Command planner, said.
The 94th deployed a tactical operations center, or TOC, to boost the joint capabilities of the Army and Air Force, said Lt. Col. John Keffer, 56th Air and Space Communications Squadron commander, told AFN.
"My unit actually does the computers for the air operations center," Keefer said. "This allows us to connect the Army tactical operations center up directly to the air component piece. It really facilitates very well the connectivity between the Army C-2 system and the Air Force C-2 system, allowing a much more effective joint fight."
"The greater understanding will increase joint operations capabilities in the Pacific, giving Pacific Command another options to help maintain peace and stability throughout the region," AFN said.
