U.S.-Led Team Wins NATO Missile Shield Work

 

Photo: Luftwaffe

Sep 28, 2011 By Amy Svitak - aerospace daily and defense report

PARIS — NATO has awarded a contract worth €2.5 million ($3.36 million) to a U.S.-led industry team to define the first steps of a plan that would expand NATO’s theater missile defense system to form a broader shield over the alliance’s territory and population in Europe, as well as for deployed forces.

The industry team, led by McLean, Va.-based Science Applications International Corp., comprises EADS Astrium of France, IABG of Germany, Selex SI of Italy, TNO of the Netherlands, U.K.-based Qinetiq and the British arm of Raytheon. Work under the yearlong effort is to be performed at the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency in The Hague.

“The results will then be taken forward for implementation in the NATO command and control network to broaden the capabilities of the NATO commander well beyond those demonstrated recently in missile defense testing between the United States and NATO elements last month,” the international organization said in a Sept. 20 statement.

Alessandro Pera, program manager for the NATO Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense program office, says the expanded missile defense shield would defend Europe against what NATO views as a growing threat posed by ballistic missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction. “We will work as a team with our industry and national partners, in close consultation with both the NATO military and relevant NATO committees, to ensure we get the job done.”

The NATO contract follows a November 2010 decision at the Lisbon Summit to provide the alliance with an additional layer of capability to protect Europe.

Astrium Space Transportation, the prime contractor for France’s missile defense program, has already proposed a plan to validate the underlying technology for a €1 billion missile defense system dubbed Exoguard. The unsolicited proposal aims to achieve the flight test of an in-space interceptor around mid-decade at a cost of €225 million.