By Marina Malenic
Northrop Grumman [NOC] executives last week reaffirmed plans to bid for a Pentagon contract for sustainment of the country’s silo-based missile defense system and said they are actively seeking potential subcontractors ahead of an expected June release of a final bid solicitation.
“Northrop Grumman is bringing together the capabilities to meet development, testing, training, operations, support and sustainment challenges” of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system, John Clay, the company’s vice president for missile systems, told reporters in Washington.
Boeing [BA] is the incumbent on the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense program. MDA first chose the company to be its prime contractor in 2001.
Clay cited Northrop Grumman’s management of the 450 Minuteman II ICBMs as a prime example of its relevant expertise. He said the company has a wide range of experience on performance-based logistic contracts for the military, which is seen as a key to landing the GMD sustainment contract.
Clay also said he expects the GMD Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)–Northrop Grumman, Orbital [ORB] and Raytheon [RTN]–to be chosen to participate in the new contract in some form.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing have also said they will respond to the solicitation.
John Holly, vice president, Missile Defense Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, said last week that his company is “dedicated to partnering with the MDA and GMD program office to support this crucial weapon system.”
Holly cited more than 30 years experience in midcourse missile defense development, as well as robust performance based logistics expertise.
The contract, expected to be awarded in fiscal year 2011, is anticipated to be an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) with allowance for various types of task orders.
The work will be done Huntsville, Ala., Ft. Greely, Alaska, Eareckson AS, Alaska, Schriever AFB, Colo., and at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
Initial written comments and questions on the draft Request for Proposals (RFP) were submitted last month, and final comments were due by March 18.
Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman is continuing to calibrate sensors aboard the two Space Tracking and Surveillance System satellites it has in Low Earth Orbit. Gabe Watson, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of missile defense and warning systems, said the system could begin participating in Missile Defense Agency tests “in the next couple of months.” MDA’s tests are expected to include both aircraft and missile targets.
Watson acknowledged that award fees for the company’s work on the program have fluctuated because of integration difficulties encountered prior to the launch of the two space vehicles in September.
“We don’t always earn 100 percent,” he said.
The two Low Earth Orbit satellites work in tandem, viewing the same target to provide 3-D stereo tracking capability. The on-board infrared sensors are designed to track missiles through all phases of flight–boost, midcourse and terminal–and perform hit assessments after engagement.
The STSS demonstration program was developed as part of the Space-based Infrared System (SBIRS) Low program in the 1990s.
The company is also planning to bid for a contract to build missile defense targets and countermeasures and to adapt its Global Hawk drone for missile launch monitoring worldwide.