The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded Lockheed Martin (LMT 0.01%) a $79.7 million modification, increasing the funding limit on a contract originally given to the company in August 2010 .
The contract in question hires Lockheed to install, integrate, and test performance of the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System (AAMDS) at the Pacific Missile Range facility in Kauai, Hawaii, and also at a facility in Deveselu, Romania.
Aegis Ashore, which is run by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, is described as being the land-based component of a project to beef up the shipborne Aegis air defense system into the much broader Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. If completed, the system is expected to use Standard Missile-3 missiles, plus AN/SPY-1 radar systems, to defeat both short- and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats.
Originally funded for $69.8 million in 2010, subsequent increases in the AAMDS budget -- including this latest contract -- have lifted the total contract value for Lockheed past $331.8 million. Lockheed is expected to complete performance of this latest segment of the contract by July 31, 2015. However, it can expect to continue collecting revenues from work on this system far longer than that. Installation of the AAMDS system is not expected to be complete before 2021.
