The National Armaments Directors of Germany, Italy and the United States recently approved a contract amendment that funds two flight intercept tests of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), at no increase to the original $3.4 billion program ceiling.
“This entire replan and contract amendment for the remaining two and half years of the contract, is all under the original funding ceiling,” Marty Coyne, MEADS International Business Development Director, said in an interview.
In 2004, the initial $3.4 billion contract to design and develop the MEADS system was signed. In February, the United States decided to provide no further funds, so the program went back to its original funding level.
The amended contract also provides for a Launcher Missile Characterization Test and a Sensor Characterization Test before the MEADS Design and Development contract ends in 2014.
The program remains within the funding limit authorized by the three nations in the 2004 MEADS Memorandum of Understanding.
MEADS International President Dave Berganini said, “We remain focused on executing the flight tests approved by the National Armaments Directors on time and on budget. Our goal is to demonstrate the advanced capabilities of MEADS, including its open, network-centric architecture, non-proprietary software and plug-and-fight capabilities.”
This month, the MEADS program is expected to conduct a launcher missile characterization test at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), N.M.
“We’re on track,” Coyne said on a telephone interview from WSMR.
The test offers the first ever 360 degree launch of an air missile defense system. To demonstrate the MEADS Launcher 360-degree capability, the test includes an unprecedented over-the-shoulder launch of a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement Missile against a simulated target that attacks from a rear quadrant. The missile will fire and emerge from the launcher going one way, and upon finding the target, turns to head back over the launcher to engage the simulated target.
“We’re going to bend that missile,” Coyne said, something that hasn’t been done at the test range before.
The program expects to learn a lot about the hardware during the test, because “we know exactly” how the missile and system will, or should behave, he said. All the data collected will feed back into the simulations and modeling.
Two intercept flight tests are included in the remaining contract scope of work. A first intercept test against an air-breathing threat is planned for White Sands in late 2012.
In late 2013, MEADS will conduct a tactical ballistic missile intercept test, preceded by a sensor characterization test. The test series will also demonstrate engage-on- remote, plug-and-fight capabilities, netted/distributed functionality and interoperability through Link 16.
MEADS International, a multinational joint venture headquartered in Orlando, Fla., is the prime contractor for the MEADS system. Major subcontractors and joint venture partners are MBDA in Italy, LFK in Germany and Lockheed Martin [LMT] in the United States.