Northrop Grumman team wins missile defense contract

Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co. have won a seven-year, $4.5 billion contract to build a rocket to knock out hostile missiles during their boost/ascent phase.

Northrop Grumman of Los Angeles is leading the team and will be responsible for systems integration under the Kinetic Energy Interceptors contract.

Raytheon of Lexington, Mass., is the principal subcontractor for developing the kill vehicle, for integrating the interceptor and providing a significant portion of weapon system engineering.

The team was picked by the Missile Defense Agency over a Lockheed Martin Corp.-Boeing Co. team.

Northrop Grumman chairman, president and chief executive officer Ronald Sugar said that the win validated the company's acquisition of TRW Inc. in December 2002. Six of the company's seven business sectors will play a role in the contract, he said.

The only sector not expected to work on the contract is Newport News Shipbuilding, Sugar said.

Subcontractors under Northrop Grumman and Raytheon include Aerojet, Alliant Techsystems, Ball Aerospace, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., Davidson Technologies Inc., Information Extraction and Transport Inc., Orbital Sciences Corp., Oshkosh Truck Corp., Photon Research Associates Inc., Rockwell Collins, Science Applications International Corp., Schafer Corp., SEI and 3D Research Corp.

The system is to be deployed in the 2010-2012 timeframe. It will include a command and control battle management and communications system; and satellite receivers to process the signal that a hostile missile has been launched. The equipment will need to be mobile so it can be loaded onto a C-17 aircraft and transported worldwide, Northrop Grumman officials said.