Northrop Grumman and industry partner Boeing have submitted a joint proposal for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Objective Simulation Framework (OSF) program.

OSF, which will integrate the MDA's modeling and simulation architectures for the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS), is expected to be awarded in July 2011 as an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with an estimated program value of $595 million over five years.

"Missile defense calls for flexible, high-fidelity simulations that are affordable. OSF is crucial for increasing the cost-effective role of modeling and simulation in verifying and certifying BMDS performance," said Kelley Zelickson, vice president of Air and Missile Defense Systems for Northrop Grumman Information Systems.

"In response, we have assembled an extraordinarily talented, comprehensive and balanced team to offer the best value with our proposal. We will perform the work in Colorado Springs and Huntsville, and collectively, we bring unmatched experience with BMDS elements and legacy architectures, niche expertise and innovation to deliver a modular, scalable and reconfigurable system to the MDA.

"The Northrop Grumman-Boeing team is committed to working with the MDA to achieve an optimized, common framework that will reduce the costs associated with modeling and simulation while enhancing the ability to evaluate new ballistic missile defense capabilities," Zelickson said.

In addition to strategic partner The Boeing Company, the Northrop Grumman-led OSF team includes:

+ Ares Corporation, Burlingame, Calif.
+ Boecore Inc., Colorado Springs, Colo.
+ Davidson Technologies Inc., Huntsville, Ala.
+ Dynetics, Huntsville, Ala.
+ Houghton Associates Inc., Hillsborough, N.C.
+ L.C. Wright Inc., McLean, Va.
+ Metron Scientific Solutions, Reston, Va.
+ Mission Solutions Engineering, Arlington, Va.
+ Penta Research Inc., Huntsville, Ala.
+ Schafer Corporation/3D Research, Chelmsford, Mass.
+ Raytheon Company, Colorado Springs, Colo.

"Our team brings unique understanding of the complexities of the entire ballistic missile defense system, including its elements and the network systems that tie them together," said Greg Hyslop, vice president and general manager of Boeing Strategic Missile and Defense Systems.

"This understanding and expertise are built upon relationships we have developed in successfully supporting our customer in the development, sustainment and execution of operational missile defense systems, and the modeling and simulation frameworks that support them."

Northrop Grumman and Boeing are the principal developers of the MDA's current modeling and simulation frameworks consisting of the Digital Simulation Architecture (digital representation) and the Single Stimulation Framework (hardware-in-the-loop representation).

The OSF program will enhance and integrate these current frameworks into a system that accurately represents the performance of fielded BMDS equipment against a variety of threats in realistic environments.

The BMDS is a complex system of sensors, interceptors and a command and control, battle management and communications network. The integration of these many elements will enable a robust, layered defense to defend against a hostile missile.