The competing interceptor design technologies vying to deliver the US Missile Defense Agency's (MDA's) Next-Generation Interceptor (NGI) requirement have both successfully completed the System Requirements Review (SRR) milestone.
NGI is intended as the future anti-ballistic missile component for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, an element of the layered US missile defence architecture designed to engage and destroy intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile threats in space to protect the continental United States.
The MDA, in consultation with the US Strategic Command, US Northern Command, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, issued a request for proposals for the design and build of the new NGI, in April 2020. Three responses were received –from Boeing Defense, teamed with General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems and Aerojet Rocketdyne, from Northrop Grumman Systems teamed with Raytheon Missiles & Defense, and from Lockheed Martin.
On 23 March 2021 the US Department of Defense (DoD) awarded two NGI development contracts to teams led by Northrop Grumman Systems and Lockheed Martin. The bid from the incumbent GMD prime contractor Boeing Defense was not selected for the NGI development. With an estimated maximum value of USD1.6 billion during fiscal year (FY) 2022, the development contracts are structured to carry two designs into the technology maturation and risk reduction phase of the acquisition programme to reduce technical and schedule risks.
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