Lockheed wins US missile defense contract worth $17 bln

Lockheed Martin has won a $17 billion contract to develop the next generation of interceptors to defend the United States against an intercontinental ballistic missile attack, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Monday.
The interceptor program is aimed at defeating current ballistic missile threats and future technological advances from countries such as North Korea and Iran.
The win represents a shot in the arm for Lockheed after the United States said it wanted to reduce F-35 orders, and the Army in February abandoned development of a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, a next-generation helicopter for which Lockheed had submitted a design.
The multi-year missile contract covers the development of the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) to modernize the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program. The network of radars, interceptors and other equipment is designed to protect the United States from intercontinental ballistic missiles.