IRIA News

U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and military and aerospace company Lockheed Martin successfully completed all subsystem preliminary design reviews of the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI).

According to the Lockheed Martin statement, “NGI is the future of the MDA’s Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) system to protect the U.S. homeland against intercontinental ballistic missile threats from rogue nations.”

The statement added that “Through a series of successful and on-schedule Preliminary Design Reviews (PDRs) of all NGI major subsystems, the company demonstrated it has achieved design maturity and reduced risk for critical technologies.”

Sarah Reeves, the Vice President of NGI at Lockheed Martin, mentioned that Lockheed Martin is swiftly advancing with their NGI solution and continues to maintain an accelerated pace toward flight testing.

Reeves highlighted that “During these reviews, we took a modern and transparent approach through the use of advanced digital engineering and model-based engineering tools. Our NGI team will continue on-plan to demonstrate our revolutionary NGI architecture, leveraging mature technologies for high mission confidence.”

Lockheed Martin’s NGI initiative remains on schedule for its upcoming major evaluation, known as the All Up Round PDR. Throughout this critical assessment, the MDA will evaluate the program’s readiness to advance within the acquisition process through Knowledge Point number one and ultimately on to the Critical Design Review. The initial deployment of the first Lockheed Martin NGI to the warfighter is expected in Fiscal Year 2027.

The NGI will increase warfighter capability, providing an improved defensive solution to address the complex future battlespace. Lockheed Martin is engaged in several projects including research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of advanced technology systems. The defense firm is working in partnership with the MDA and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Separately on August 8, U.S. defense firm Northrop Grumman announced that it has successfully manufactured the first set of solid rocket motor cases for its NGI program. Vice president of Northrop Grumman’s NGI program Lisa Brown recently announced that “Our experienced teams and cutting-edge solid rocket motor manufacturing technologies, backed by flight-proven processes, have enabled us to achieve several key milestones in rapid succession.”

What is the NGI program?

The NGI program was introduced by the MDA to counter the increasing threat of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM). These missiles are harder to detect as they travel through space at unprecedented speeds. China’s DF-26 and North Korea’s Hwasong-18 are prime examples of modern-age ICBMs, which are extremely difficult to detect and intercept.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has been working on developing a next-generation ground-based missile defense system amid the increasing technological advancements in ballistic missile technologies. In recent times MDA has accelerated the development process, particularly amid ICBM threats from countries like China, Iran, and North Korea.

The U.S. Department of Defense introduced the NGI program in 2020, to develop a new ground-based missile defense system. Several of the U.S.-based defense giants have been working on developing their own designs for the systems while collaborating on the billion-dollar project.

The NGI program is MDA’s largest investment as the agency has allotted $2.4 billion to the project in fiscal year 2024. The U.S. Department of Defense aims to attain and approve the latest designs of the NGI program by 2028. The agency initially plans to buy 20 units of the NGI to be deployed in Guam and Hawaii amid the increasing threat of ICBM attacks from North Korea.

Missile Defense Agency is the section of the United States government’s Department of Defense responsible for developing a layered defense against ballistic missiles. The agency develops, tests, and fields an integrated Missile Defense System and works closely with the U.S. combatant commands to protect the United States and its allies from missile attack.