DALLAS, Oct. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) recently awarded Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] a $124.6 million fixed-price contract for the manufacture and delivery of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ground components. The contract provides for the delivery of U.S. government THAAD launchers, support equipment, fire control and communication spares, and launcher spares.

"THAAD provides the Warfighter with the requisite deployability, combat power and lethality to counter current and emerging ballistic missile threats around the globe," said Richard McDaniel, Lockheed Martin vice president for THAAD. "The Lockheed Martin team is totally committed to meeting the growing demand for THAAD's unique strategic capabilities."

Work on the contract is scheduled to begin in 2016 and will take place in Dallas and Lufkin, Texas; Huntsville, Alabama; Ocala, Florida; Sunnyvale, California; and Camden, Arkansas. The work will be completed in 2017.

Since 2005, the THAAD development program has completed 13 flight tests, with 11 successful intercepts in 11 attempts. THAAD is the only missile defense system with the operational flexibility to intercept in both the endo- and exo-atmospheres to provide versatile capability to the warfighter.

THAAD's first operational deployment was in 2013, when a battery was deployed to Guam in response to increased tensions in the Pacific region.  This critical security mission continues today. 

A key element of the nation's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS), THAAD is an MDA program, with the program office located in Huntsville, Alabama. The agency is developing the BMDS to defend the United States, its deployed forces, friends and allies against ballistic missiles of all ranges and in all phases of flight.

Lockheed Martin is a world leader in systems integration and the development of air and missile defense systems and technologies, including the first operational hit-to-kill missile.  It also has considerable experience in missile design and production, infrared seekers, command and control/battle management, and communications, precision pointing and tracking optics, and radar and signal processing. 

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 113,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's net sales for 2013 were $45.4 billion.

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SOURCE Lockheed Martin