Boeing and Northrop Grumman have announced a strategic partnership to pursue the competitive development and sustainment contract for future work on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA).

"Boeing takes great pride in supporting the Missile Defense Agency on GMD, providing round-the-clock protection of the United States against attack by ballistic missiles, and we are pleased to join with Northrop Grumman in this competition for future development and support of this critical element of America's defense," said Greg Hyslop, vice president and general manager, Boeing Strategic Missile and Defense Systems.

"This partnership offers MDA the most experienced and responsive team, ready to adapt GMD to future needs and requirements. At the same time, this proven team will continue to offer the warfighter an unmatched level of mission readiness, availability and support - affordably and with the lowest risk."

As part of the strategic partnership, Norm Tew, Boeing vice president and GMD program director, will serve as program manager of the Boeing-Northrop Grumman GMD team. Steve Owens, Northrop Grumman GMD program director, will be the team's deputy program manager.

Boeing will build on its experience of supporting the MDA as prime contractor for the development, deployment, integration and testing of the GMD weapon system since 2001. The Boeing-led team currently operates and sustains the deployed weapon system while developing and testing innovative technologies to provide greater reliability and meet its customer's evolving needs and requirements.

Northrop Grumman is responsible for designing and deploying the command-and-control systems that form the backbone of the GMD ground system, known as GMD Fire Control/Communications (GFCC) products. GFCC products connect and orchestrate GMD components that launch and guide interceptors in flight.

Northrop Grumman has developed and sustained ground-based missile systems for more than 50 years and has been prime contractor for the U.S. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) weapon system since 1997. Northrop Grumman has been part of the Boeing GMD team for more than 10 years.

"As Boeing's strategic partner, we bring the low risk of our domain expertise on GMD fire control and communications, and the robust systems management model of our leadership role on ICBMs," said Karen Williams, vice president of Air and Missile Defense Systems for Northrop Grumman's Information Systems sector.

"Those are very powerful capabilities we can use to help the team bring GMD into a new era of efficiency, affordability and long-term partnership with MDA."

An integral element of the Global Ballistic Missile Defense System, GMD also consists of radars, other sensors, command-and-control facilities, communications terminals and a 20,000-mile fiber optic communications network. There are more than 20 operational interceptors at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and at Fort Greely, Alaska, to defend the United States against long-range ballistic missile threats.