Overview
- The Missile Defense Agency on Wednesday awarded Lockheed Martin a seven-year, up-to-$35 billion undefinitized contract action to accelerate THAAD interceptor production and turn a January framework into executed procurement.
- A UCA lets work start before final price and terms are set, giving speed and a long-term demand signal while leaving contract value, negotiated terms and congressional appropriations to be settled later.
- The contract targets a rise in annual interceptor output from roughly 96 to about 400 per year and assigns work to facilities in Dallas, Sunnyvale, Troy and Camden.
- Lockheed says it is backing the ramp with more than $9 billion in facility and workforce investments through 2030 and new plants in Alabama and Arkansas, but scaling to hundreds of missiles will test suppliers, skilled labor and schedules.
- The award is an early execution of the Pentagon’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy and follows recent accelerated buys for PAC-3 MSE and PrSM as officials work to replenish stocks drawn down by recent operations and allied demand.