Tag: ballistic

U.S. and Switzerland sign agreement for PAC-3 MSE missiles

November 2, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Bern, Switzerland, Oct. 31, 2023 – United States and Switzerland officials formalized an agreement for Switzerland to purchase Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE: LMT) Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missiles and related support equipment. With this agreement, Switzerland becomes PAC-3’s 15th partner nation.

PAC-3 MSE will bolster Switzerland’s Patriot ground-based air defense system as a part of the Switzerland Air Force’s Air2030 program.

Lockheed Martin and armasuisse also finalized the Offset Agreement supporting the PAC-3 MSE program. This agreement is the catalyst for multiple new projects that will support Switzerland’s security-relevant technology and industry base (STIB).

The PAC-3 MSE expands the battlespace with a dual-pulse solid rocket motor, providing increased performance in altitude and range. PAC-3 MSE is a high-velocity interceptor that defends against incoming threats, including tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, advanced threats and aircraft. The PAC-3 MSE missile uses Hit-to-Kill technology, intercepting threats through kinetic energy via body-to-body contact.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including expected delivery dates. Such statements are based on current expectations and projections about our future results, prospects and opportunities and are not guarantees of future performance. Such statements will not be updated unless required by law. Actual results and performance may differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Artist's notional depiction of NGI in flight. Credit: Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin Next Generation Interceptor Completes All Design Reviews At Accelerated Pace

August 7, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Huntsville, Alabama, August 7, 2023 (PRNewswire) – Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) successfully validated designs for all elements of the nation’s Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA).

Through a series of successful and on-schedule Preliminary Design Reviews (PDRs) of all NGI major subsystems, the company demonstrated it has achieved design maturity and reduced risk for critical technologies. NGI is the future of the MDA’s Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) system to protect the U.S. homeland against intercontinental ballistic missile threats from rogue nations.

Lockheed Martin is demonstrating engineering work that has been performed in the integrated digital tool chain to drive faster decision making, enhance security, and enable rapid delivery and agility. This approach emphasizes affordability across the program lifecycle. Lockheed Martin’s NGI solution will increase warfighter capability, providing an improved defensive solution to address the complex battlespace now and in the future.

Lockheed Martin’s NGI program is on track for its next major review, the All Up Round PDR. During this next major review, MDA will assess if the program is ready to move forward in the acquisition process through Knowledge Point number one and ultimately on to the Critical Design Review. The first Lockheed Martin NGI is forecast for delivery to the warfighter as early as FY2027.

For additional information, visit our website: www.lockheedmartin.com.

Boeing Partners with General Atomics & Aerojet Rocketdyne in Homeland Missile Defense Bid

September 27, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

Boeing [NYSE: BA] is teaming with General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems and Aerojet Rocketdyne [NYSE: AJRD] in its bid to build the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The NGI is a key element of the MDA’s missile defense system, which is designed to intercept and destroy incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles.

“The Boeing-led team will deliver critical technology to enhance our homeland missile defense,” said Norm Tew, Boeing Missile and Weapon Systems vice president and general manager, and Huntsville site senior executive. “Combined, we bring decades of expertise in proven missile and weapon systems.”

On Aug. 12, the Boeing-General Atomics-Aerojet Rocketdyne team submitted an NGI offering that will improve performance and enhance the nation’s ability to defend against future threats.

GA-EMS has a long history of delivering missile technology and complex systems for critical national defense programs. “This partnership combines our legacies in innovation, bringing together new ideas to create an affordable and reliable solution to defend against emerging threats,” said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS.

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s propulsion systems have powered the nation’s missile defense for decades. “As the country’s premier hit-to-kill propulsion provider, we’re able to deliver low-cost, high-performance systems by leveraging our skilled workforce and strategic investments in innovative technology and materials,” said Eileen Drake, Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and president.

Northrop Grumman will serve as a component supplier on the Boeing-led team.

A contract award is expected later this year.

Boeing Out of Minuteman Missile Replacement Competition

December 14, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

The Boeing logo is displayed on a screen, at the NYSE in New York

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Boeing Co <BA> has decided not to compete as a prime contractor to replace the Pentagon’s aging U.S.-based Minuteman III missile system, paving the way for Northrop Grumman Corp <NOC> to win a contract worth tens of billions of dollars.

Friday marked the deadline to submit proposals to continue work on the replacement of the nearly half-century-old intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system as the military embarks on a costly modernization of its aging atomic weapons.

Boeing said in a statement that it was disappointed it was unable to submit a bid. Northrop said it had submitted its proposal. No other bidders were expected.

Boeing’s decision not to enter a bid as a prime contractor had been foreshadowed this summer in a letter from the chief executive of Boeing Defense Space and Security, Leanne Caret, to Air Force leadership, saying Northrop’s 2018 purchase of solid rocket motor maker Orbital ATK might make it difficult for Boeing to compete on cost.

Orbital is the top producer of the solid fuel rocket motors generally used in Minuteman III and similar missiles.

Upgrading the U.S. nuclear force was expected to cost more than $350 billion over the next decade as the United States works to replace its bombs, nuclear bombers, missiles and submarines. Some analysts estimated the cost of modernization at $1 trillion over 30 years.

The Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office has said the total cost to replace Minuteman III could top U.S. $85 billion.

In 2017, the Air Force awarded https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-pentagon-gbsd/u-s-air-force-awards-contracts-to-boeing-northrop-for-icbm-replacement-idUSKCN1B12H3 Boeing and Northrop Grumman separate contracts for the early engineering phase of the program.

(Reporting by Mike Stone; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Rosalba O’Brien and Richard Chang)

S. Korea Display F-35 Stealth Jets seen by the North as a Threat

September 30, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SEOUL, Oct 1 (Reuters) – South Korea showcased newly acquired F-35 stealth fighter jets to mark Armed Forces Day on Tuesday as President Moon Jae-in tried to allay concerns that his policy of engagement with North Korea would weaken the South’s commitment to defence.

At an event marking the founding of the South Korean military, Moon said South Korean fighter jets conducted patrol flights offshore, including over islands at the centre of a bitter territorial dispute with Japan.

North Korea has criticised the South’s weapons procurements and its joint military drills with the U.S. military as undisguised preparations for war that are forcing it to develop new short-range missiles.

Moon has thrown his support behind dialogue to end the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, urging that working-level negotiations between the North and the United States be held soon. No new dates or locations have been set.

Moon marked Armed Forces Day at a ceremony at an airbase in the city of Daegu that highlighted four of the eight Lockheed Martin F-35A jets delivered this year. Forty of the aircraft are to be delivered by 2021.

During the event, an F-15K jet patrolled over the islands claimed by both South Korea and Japan and called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

Moon made no direction mention of North Korea or Japan but said today’s security climate was highly unpredictable, requiring strength and innovation.

“As the recent drone attack in the Middle East region demonstrated to the world, the challenges that we will face will be entirely different from those of the past,” he said in an address to the military. “The war of the future will be a fight of science and intelligence against all elements that threaten our people’s safety and property.”

Analysts have said the F-35 stealth jets put North Korea’s anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence systems in a vulnerable position.

Negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes have stalled since a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un broke down in February over disagreements on denuclearisation.

North Korea blamed the United States on Monday for a failure to restart talks, with Pyongyang’s U.N. ambassador Kim Song saying it was time for Washington to share proposals for talks that showed Washington had adopted a new “calculation method”.

South Korea and the United States have separately begun talks for a new military burden-sharing agreement to decide how much South Korea will pay for stationing what is now about 28,500 U.S. troops in the country.

Moon told Trump during a summit in New York last week what South Korea would contribute, including an increase in purchases of U.S. weapons and future purchase plans, a senior official at South Korea’s presidential office said.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee Editing by Jack Kim, Paul Tait and Gerry Doyle)

Japan’s Military Seek Eighth Straight Annual Defense Spending Hike

August 30, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

TOKYO, Aug 30 (Reuters) – Japan’s military has asked for an eighth straight annual increase in defence spending to help pay for U.S.-made interceptor missiles, stealth fighters, and other equipment it wants to counter threats from North Korea and China.

The Ministry of Defence budget proposal released Friday calls for spending to increase 1.2 percent to a record 5.32 trillion yen ($50.48 billion) in the year starting April 1. Finance ministry officials will scrutinise the request before it is approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet.

Already one of the world’s biggest military spenders despite a constitution that forbids the possession of weapons to attack other countries, Japan has increased military outlays by a tenth over the past seven years. That growth is being driven by alarm over military build ups by its neighbours.

Japan’s spending, much of it on advanced weapons from the United States, has benefited the likes of Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Co, and worried local contractors such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries who have seen their share of defence spending shrink.

U.S. President Donald Trump has thanked Japan for buying the expensive U.S. equipment, helping curtail criticism of Japan amid trade tensions between Tokyo and Washington.

For the next fiscal year, Japan’s defense officials have asked for 115.6 billion yen to buy nine Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, including for the first time six short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) B variants that it wants to operate from aircraft carriers. That purchase will help Japan project military power by extending the range at which the country’s Self Defense Forces can operate.

The defence ministry also wants 116.3 billion yen to bolster ballistic missile defences (BMD), including money for a new generation of interceptor missiles designed by Raytheon to shoot down incoming warheads in space. It also wants funds for vertical launch systems for ships and two planned ground-based Aegis Ashore radar missile tracking stations.

($1 = 105.3900 yen)

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Michael Perry)

Lockheed Awarded $1.48 Billion Saudi Missile Defense Contract

July 20, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) – Lockheed Martin was awarded a $1.48 billion contract to build the THAAD missile defense system for Saudi Arabia, bringing the total value of the deal to $5.36 billion, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The new contract was a modification to a previously awarded agreement to produce the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor for Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said.

In November 2018, Saudi and U.S. officials signed letters of offer and acceptance formalizing terms for Saudi Arabia’s purchase of 44 THAAD launchers, missiles and related equipment.

In April Lockheed was awarded a $2.4 billion contract for THAAD interceptor missiles, some of which are slated to be delivered to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The latest contract is for interceptor support items.

Lockheed Martin, the biggest U.S. arms maker, builds and integrates the THAAD system, which is designed to shoot down short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Raytheon, another U.S. firm, builds its advanced radar.

(Reporting by David Alexander Editing by Tom Brown)

U.S. Approves Sale Of 6 Boeing P-8A Poseidon’s To South Korea

September 13, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on Thursday said it supported the sale of six Boeing Co P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft to South Korea for an estimated $2.10 billion and had notified Congress of its decision.

South Korea’s military said in June it had picked Boeing to supply the country with maritime patrol aircraft.

South Korea said in February that it would procure from overseas new maritime patrol aircraft with stronger anti-submarine capabilities to better respond to the threat of North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

A P-8A Poseidon assigned to Patrol Squadron (VP) 16 is seen in flight over Jacksonville, Fla. (U.S Navy photo by Personnel Specialist 1st Class Anthony Petry)

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