US selects Northrop Grumman for homeland missile defence
A photo of a test of the nation's Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, conducted in March 2019. (Photo: US Missile Defense Agency)
Northrop Grumman recruited to bolster US intermediate and intercontinental ballistic missile defence.
Northrop Grumman has been awarded an IDIQ contract, valued at around $3.29 billion, by the US Missile Defense Agency for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Weapon System (GWS) programme.
The GWS programme aims to continue the development of a defence system to protect against intermediate and intercontinental ballistic missile attacks.
Northrop Grumman will provide design, development, verification, deployment and sustainment support of new capabilities for GWS.
GWS will transform the current ground system component of the GMD system by utilising a DevSecOps approach to update and modernise legacy code, warfighter capabilities and incorporate the Next Generation Interceptor fleet into the overall GMD system.
The GMD is the current system for intercepting incoming missiles during the midcourse phase of ballistic trajectory, halfway between launch and impact.
Other improvements to the GMD system are also underway, in March 2021, the Missile Defense Agency awarded contracts to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the development of the Next Generation Interceptor, a new guided missile for the GMD.
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