The Missile Defense Agency awarded Boeing [BA] a $6.56 billion modification to a previous contract to extend its development and sustainment contract (DSC) for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile defense program, the Defense Department said Jan. 31.

The DSC covers development, fielding, test, systems engineering, integration and configuration management, equipment manufacturing and refurbishment, training, and operations and sustainment for the GMD weapon system and associated support facilities.

Under this award MDA will execute missile defense enhancements including accelerated delivery of a new GMD missile field with 20 added silos as well as two more silos in a previously built missile field, all at Fort Greely, Alaska. This also includes the procurement and deployment of 20 more Ground-based interceptors (GBIs) used in the GMD missile fields.

This award comes weeks after the MDA notified industry that it would not assume the prime integrator role for the GMD system, deciding that doing so would add an “unacceptable level of risk.”

The agency had planned a follow-on acquisition strategy to the current DSC, run by Boeing, to compete future GMD acquisitions. That strategy included the option that MDA would assume the GMD weapon system prime role from Boeing. This plan mirrored the Increment 6 capability improvements, which include integrating the Lockheed Martin [LMT] Long Range Discrimination Radar; integration of the Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV); introduction of advanced discrimination data; upgrades to engagement management and Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle conventional discrimination; and introducing on-demand communications and RKV-to-RKV communications.

This newly announced modification covers technical capabilities to expand and improve the missile defense system to ensure defense capabilities remain current and relevant. This includes work on boost vehicle (BV) development; integration of redesigned kill vehicle (RKV) with BV; providing GBI assets for labs and test events; development, integration, testing and deployment of ground systems software builds to address emerging threats; acquisition and emplacement of launch support equipment; expanded systems testing through all ground and flight testing; cyber security support; and performance based logistics.

This modification more than doubles the total contract value of the DSC, including options, from $6.1 billion to $12.64 billion.

This award has a performance period of six years, through Dec. 2023.

MDA said the award to Boeing is for an industry team that also includes Orbital ATK [OA]; Northrop Grumman [NOC], and Raytheon [RTN].

The acquisition was conducted on a sole-source basis. The Defense Department said that “Boeing as the GMD DSC prime contractor, along with its subcontractors, collectively have demonstrated special capabilities and/or expertise that no other companies have been able to satisfactorily perform the required services or deliveries without unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Agency’s requirements.”

Fiscal year 2017 and 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funds of $214 million were obligated at award time.

The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon [RTN] a $2.3 billion contract on Jan. 30 for engineering services to support the Patriot missile defense systems to support software and refresh obsolescence in both U.S. and partner international systems.

This hybrid cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price and level-of-effort contract will divide work locations and funding based on individual orders. The total work is expected to be finished by January 2023.

Raytheon clarified that these system upgrades will be funded by the 14 countries that use Patriot for integrated air and missile defense. Those are the U.S., the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Taiwan, Greece, Spain, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Romania.

The company said it also received an initial $235 million modernization task order from the U.S. Army, the first of five annual indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) task order awards that combined will reach upward of $2.3 billion.

“The 14 Patriot partner nations share the cost of further improving the system through upgrades. As a result, all partner nations will be able to continue outpacing and defeating even the most advanced threats,” Tom Laliberty, Raytheon vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense, said in a statement.

The Patriot system includes radars, command and control technology, and interceptors that are aimed at tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and other aircraft.

Raytheon said the upgrades will include developing new methods to search, detect, track, discriminate, engage, and defeat a range of threats; bolster Patriot’s ability to counter advanced electromagnetic countermeasures; enhance the system’s ability to conduct combat identification; improve the Patriot interoperability with higher echelon systems; develop advanced training aids like high fidelity virtual simulators; and reduce life cycle costs through reliability improvements and modernized hardware.

The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $524 million modification Feb. 6 to a domestic and foreign military sales (FMS) contract for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile segment enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) missiles.

The modification covers PAC-3 missiles, cost reduction initiative (CRI) missiles, launcher modification kits, and associated ground support equipment for the U.S., Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Romania.

Work is expected to be finished by Jan. 31, 2021.

This modification adds to an earlier $944 million modification awarded last December for PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE production and delivery.

That previous award covered 54 U.S. MSE missiles, 24 Qatar MSEs, and 130 Saudi Arabia CRI missiles and ground support equipment.

The latest award comes after recent reports and independent analyses that Patriot systems based in Saudi Arabia have failed to intercept Burkan-2 missiles launched by Houthis rebels in Yemen. The Burkan-2 is a variant of the Scud ballistic missile.

Lockheed Martin said the hit-to-kill PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE missiles are the only in their class combat proven and can defeat a range on threats.

“PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE give our customers unmatched, combat-proven hit-to-kill technology to address growing and evolving threats,” Jay Pitman, vice president of PAC-3 programs at Lockheed Martin’s missiles and fire control business, said in a statement.

Separately, the Army awarded Raytheon [RTN] a nearly $18 million domestic and FMS modification to execute the Patriot Field Surveillance Program (FSP). This includes missile assessments, testing, recertification, and repair activities.

The FSP has Patriot partners randomly pick missiles from their inventory to verify they work correctly in an independent assessment.

The foreign customers include Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Work will occur in Andover, Mass., and is expected to be finished by January 2020.

The PAC-3 is operational in the U.S., Germany, Japan, Qatar, the Netherlands, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, UAE.

A Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Navy test intercept of a Raytheon [RTN] Standard Missile(SM)-3 Block IIA from Hawaii reportedly missed its target on Jan. 31, according to a report from CNN.

The MDA was unwilling to speak to the test result when reached for comment, but did confirm the test occurred this morning.

“The Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy sailors manning the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex (AAMDTC) conducted a live-fire missile flight test using a Standard-Missile (SM)-3 Block IIA missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, Wednesday morning,” agency spokesman Mark Wright said in a statement.

The CNN report cited “several administration officials” that said the test was aimed at testing the Aegis Ashore concept ahead of a likely Japanese purchase of the system to bolster its defenses against North Korean ballistic missiles. Japan first announced it was interested in the Aegis Ashore system last August, when it announced it plans to increase its missile defense systems overall.

In this test the SM-3 Block IIA reportedly missed an incoming warhead launched from an aircraft in Hawaii.

The report said the Defense Department is not acknowledging the failure publicly due to tensions with North Korea and sensitivities around its participation in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, being held in South Korea.

On Feb. 1, Defense Department spokesperson Dana White confirmed the failure in a press briefing.

“We can confirm it. And it did not meet our objectives, but we learn something all the time with these tests and we learned something from this one. And we’ll continue to improve our capabilities.”

The SM-3 Block IIA is being jointly developed by the MDA, Japan, and Raytheon to defend against intermediate and medium-range ballistic missiles that could be fired by North Korea or Iran. This interceptor has not been fielded by either country yet, but it planned to start deliveries to the U.S. Navy by the end of 2018, the program executive for Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense said last March.

The Block IIA is a longer-range model compared to the Block IA and IB interceptors, featuring a larger kinetic warhead and improved search, discrimination, acquisition, and tracking functions. It also uses larger rocket motors aimed at being able to target more sophisticated threats and protect larger regions.   

Block IA ad IB interceptors are currently deployed on U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers, Kongo-class Japanese guided-missile destroyers, and the Aegis Ashore site in Romania.

Currently one Aegis Ashore site is operational in Deveselu, Romania while a second site is being built in Redzikowo, Poland as part of NATO’s ballistic missile defense system geared at protecting the alliance from ballistic missile threats from places like Iran.

Aegis Ashore is a land version of the Aegis system on U.S. Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers and Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers.

The first intercept flight test of the SM-3 IIA, launched from the USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) guided-missile destroyer, successfully intercepted a ballistic missile target last February. Unlike the Jan. 31 test, that one was based off an Aegis destroyer.

Then, in June, the second SM-3 IIA missile intercept failed. The John Paul Jones detected, tracked, and launched an interceptor at a medium-range ballistic missile target launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, but the interceptor failed to hit its target.

The second test failed because a sailor on the John Paul Jones accidentally pressed a button causing the interceptor to break engagement and self-destruct.

The Aegis Combat System that tracks and guides weapons to targets is built by Lockheed Martin[LMT].

The reported failure on Jan. 31 comes shortly after a report by the Defense Department’s top weapons tester said it has lower confidence in the SM-3 missile reliability in the Aegis system “due to recent in-flight failures, coupled with MDA shortfalls in simulating the in-flight environment in its SM-3 ground test program, addressing failures and anomalies identified during flight testing; and implementing a rigorous configuration management and control process for SM-3 production.”

The 2017 annual report by the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), released the week of Jan. 21, said the MDA missile ground test program may not adequately simulate the in-flight environment.

It noted several problems with software and design flaws in the Block IB model not found early on and said the agency did not thoroughly address software flaws present during recent flight testing before the tests.

DOT&E said the overall SM-3 program may need to improve configuration management and control because software design flaws and an unapproved manufacturing process change were not detected until they caused tests failures or inspections a year after production.

The weapons tester said it attributes the June SM-3 IIA failure from the sailor mistake “to a design deficiency that allows an operator to break a ballistic missile engagement with the push of a button, without having to confirm the action.”

The DOT&E report recommended the MDA conduct an in-depth review of SM-2 missile reliability “to ensure ground testing is adequately simulating the in-flight environment as observed during recent test failures;” implement processes to fix failures and anomalies identified during SM-3 ground testing before flight tests; and ensure SM-3 production configuration management, manufacturing control processes, and reporting requirements are adequate.

It also recommended the MDA work with the Navy to implement Failure Review Board (FRB) recommendations stemming from the June SM-3 failure to prevent accidental operator actions from stopping engagements with hostile ballistic missile tracks.

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] a $459 million modification on Jan. 26 to produce additional Lot 10 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors.

The modification exercises an option on a previously-awarded contract for these additional interceptors and provide associated production support efforts under fixed-price incentive-firm target contract line item numbers.

Last March MDA awarded Lockheed Martin a $273 million contract for Lot 9 of these THAAD missile defense interceptors. Then this past December MDA awarded Lockheed a $553 million modification for additional Lot 9 and the first Lot 10 interceptors.

That December award included this $459 million option for additional Lot 10 interceptors.

This award increases the contract’s total value from $827 million to about $1.3 billion. The work is expected to be finished by June 2021.

In November, the Trump administration requested $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2018 budget amendments to procure 50 new THAAD interceptors, 20 new ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Ground-Based Interceptors (GBIs), and 15 Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptors.

In December President Trump signed into law a continuing resolution that provided $4.7 billion in emergency funding for Navy ship repairs and ballistic missile defense the administration requested.

A Lockheed Martin spokesperson told sister publication Defense Daily in a statement that this new modification is a result of the supplemental funding.

The company also said no Lot 10 missiles have not been produced yet because they have about a three-year lead time.

The U.S. Air Force released a final request for proposals Jan. 31 to launch five Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spacecraft in the early 2020s.

According to the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) in California, which announced the RFP, the solicitation includes the fiscal year 2021 launches of two Air Force spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida or NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft are the fifth Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO-5) missile-warning satellite, and Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)-44, whose mission was not disclosed. 

Also in FY 2021, NROL-87 will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and NROL-85 will be launched from the Eastern or Western Range.

The fifth spacecraft, Silent Barker, which Air Force Space Command and the NRO are jointly pursuing to provide space situational awareness, will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station or Kennedy in FY 2022.

Bids for the launches are due April 16. The Air Force plans to award contracts in late 2018. 

“This solicitation incorporates a trade-off between past performance, performance and schedule sub-factors, and price to maintain a focus on mission success for these critical payloads,” said Lt. Gen. John Thompson, SMC’s commander.

The RFP is the Air Force’s sixth competitive launch solicitation under its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Phase 1A procurement strategy, which reintroduces competition for national security space launches.

The center booster that SpaceX used in Falcon Heavy’s first flight test late Feb. 6 failed to land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean as planned, according to company founder Elon Musk.

The booster, or core, ran out of propellant used to slow its descent to Earth, causing it to slam into the water at a speed of 300 miles per hour, Musk told reporters. The crash occurred about 100 meters from the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship, knocking out two of the vessel’s engines and showering the deck with shrapnel. 

The center booster’s loss is the only reported blemish so far in a demonstration that saw the rocket’s upper stage fly into deep space for hours and its two side boosters land simultaneously on Earth. 

“The mission seems to have gone as well as one could have hoped, with the exception of center core,” Musk said. The “epic” landing of the two side boosters was “probably the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen. Literally ever.”

But getting there was “way hard,” Musk added. SpaceX spent more than $500 million in internal funds to develop the heavy-lift rocket, and the high cost and unexpected technical challenges almost led to the program’s cancellation three times. 

While SpaceX originally thought it could simply combine three boosters from its smaller Falcon 9 rocket, it ended up having to redesign the center booster and other key components. 

President Donald Trump praised SpaceX for overcoming such technological hurdles.

“Congratulations @ElonMusk and @SpaceX on the successful #FalconHeavy launch,” Trump tweeted. “This achievement, along with @NASA’s commercial and international partners, continues to show American ingenuity at its best!” 

With the first flight test under SpaceX’s belt, Musk said he now expects to conduct “several” Falcon Heavy launches a year, and he hopes the test means “smooth sailing” for obtaining certification to conduct national security launches. Falcon Heavy is already slated to launch a multiple-satellite payload for the U.S. Defense Department’s Space Test Program-2 (STP-2), which could help it achieve that certification.

The Falcon Heavy test also gives Musk “a lot of confidence” that SpaceX can successfully finish developing an even larger launch vehicle, the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR). The company plans to use BFR to start colonizing Mars.

BFR will be 30 feet in diameter, allowing it to accommodate huge payloads.

“It’s a beast,” Musk said. “You can put a lot” in a rocket that size.

SpaceX now intends to devote most of its engineering resources to BFR. No major design changes to Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are envisioned.