Lockheed Martin submitted a revised proposal Oct. 31 to supply medium-range ballistic missile targets for the Pentagon’s missile defense test program.
Lockheed Martin, the only declared bidder for the contract, submitted its original proposal in June, but the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) amended the solicitation Oct. 12. MDA set a Nov. 1 deadline for submitting the requested revisions but did not publicly disclose the changes it sought.
Patricia Dare, targets and countermeasures program director for Lockheed Martin, said the amendment provides clarification of aspects of the request for proposal.
The MDA plans to award the missile target contract in December, Dare said during an Oct. 31 telephone interview. The agency will award a single contract for a planned six ground- and air-launched target vehicles, according to a procurement notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The targets will have a range of 2,000 kilometers and be capable of carrying 600-kilogram payloads, the notice said. Dare said the contract is expected to include options for as many as 11 additional vehicles.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver is leading an industry team whose members include Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., as well as Cummings Aerospace, Davidson Technologies and IERUS Technologies Inc., all of Huntsville, Ala.
It is not clear who else is bidding against the Lockheed-led team. Representatives from three established missile defense contractors, Boeing, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, said in June their companies will not be competing for the contract. L-3 Communications’ Orlando, Fla.-based Coleman Aerospace division, which has recently provided MDA target missiles, declined in June to say whether they had submitted a proposal.
Lockheed Martin successfully flew 43 target missiles in 44 attempts since 1996 for a success rate of 98 percent, according to the press release.
