By Ann Roosevelt

Boeing [BA] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] yesterday said they responded to a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Request for Information (RFI) on the future acquisition strategy for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program.

“The GMD team includes partners Orbital, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Bechtel and Teledyne Brown, and each partner brings important elements to the system,” Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems, said. “However, GMD’s successful performance is not measured by its individual pieces, but rather by how it functions as an integrated system–which would not be achieved without MDA’s vision and Boeing’s extensive integration capabilities and leadership. Continuing to leverage this proven industry team will guarantee a robust capability our nation can rely on to defend itself against long-range ballistic missiles. We are proud of our continuing role in providing an increasingly robust ballistic missile defense to our warfighters, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue leading this vital component of our nation’s defense.”

Northrop Grumman responded to the RFI Dec. 26. “Northrop Grumman looks forward to supporting the Missile Defense Agency in future development, integration, operations and sustainment of GMD,” Jay McCaffrey, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems Communications director, told Defense Daily.

The RFI responses were due Dec. 31 and are expected to help MDA determine its strategy for the follow-on acquisition effort to the current GMD contract (Defense Daily, Dec. 13).

Boeing won a $1.6 billion contract in 1998 as lead systems integrator, but had been working under previous contracts for a national defense system. In 2003, the company won an $823 million contract modification for the GMD Block 2004 Capability Enhancement from MDA. Development aspects of the current contract are scheduled for completion in December 2008. However, production will continue beyond 2008. Also, the company is under contract to develop a GMD interceptor site for Europe.

The RFI was posted in the Nov. 20 issue of FBODaily. The RFI said the GMD program’s evaluation of acquisition strategy alternatives would be done in multiple stages. The first RFI concentrates on acquisition risk areas in technical data/computer software. Future RFIs would be broader and more detailed.

Increasingly complex ground and flight tests over the past two years have demonstrated the GMD system’s capability and reliability, Boeing said in a statement.

Drawing on its global systems engineering experience and success, Boeing has led the GMD industry team including Orbital Sciences Corp. [ORB], Raytheon [RTN], Northrop Grumman, Bechtel and Teledyne Brown Engineering, from program inception to operations.

MDA rated Boeing’s work as exceptional during the company’s annual performance evaluation on GMD system development and maintenance.

GMD is the nation’s only defense against long-range ballistic missiles, with interceptors deployed in underground silos at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and Ft. Greely, Alaska. An integral element of the global ballistic missile defense system, GMD also consists of radars, other sensors, command-and-control facilities, communications terminals and a 20,000- mile fiber optic communications network. The GMD program has had seven successful intercept tests, including intercepts with operationally configured interceptors in September 2006 and September 2007.