Lockheed Beats Northrop for $17 Billion US Interceptor Deal

A visitor looks at missiles on the Lockheed Martin Corp. stand at the 2023 Defence and Security Equipment International in London.

(Bloomberg) — Lockheed Martin Corp. beat rival Northrop Grumman Corp. in a $17 billion contest to continue development and eventual production of a new warhead to replace the current ones used on US missile interceptors in California and Alaska.

The system in California and Alaska is aimed at fending off an intercontinental ballistic missile fired by an adversary such as North Korea. It isn’t designed to stop waves of missiles that could be fired by China or Russia.

The US intends to deploy the new Next Generation Interceptor no later than the end of 2028. Lieutenant General Heath Collins, head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, told a congressional subcommittee last week that both competing teams “successfully completed their Preliminary Design Reviews.” The decision favoring Lockheed was reported earlier Monday by Reuters.

The new interceptor is intended to correct the mistakes of a failed warhead program that spanned the Obama and Trump administrations. It was canceled in August 2019 after $1.2 billion was spent on the project, which was meant for deployment in 2023.

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