The U.S. Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) awarded Lockheed Martin a $1 billion contract for continued development and evolution of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Weapon System.

Under the contract, Lockheed Martin's Surface-Sea Based Missile Defense line of business, in Moorestown, N.J., will design, develop, integrate, test, deliver and install further Aegis BMD capability for the U.S. and allied navies.

"This contract will both continue the spiral development of Aegis BMD capability to meet expanding global security threats and increase the number of BMD-capable ships at sea by integrating Aegis BMD into the Aegis Modernization program," explained Orlando Carvalho, vice president and general manager of the Lockheed Martin business completing the work.

"This further supports the increasing demand for Aegis BMD capability worldwide, especially in light of the Administration's recent shift in policy in European Missile Defense."

Currently, a total of 21 Aegis BMD-equipped warships - 19 in the U.S. Navy and two in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force - have the certified capability to engage ballistic missiles and perform long-range surveillance and tracking missions. The U.S. Navy is modifying two additional U.S. East Coast-based Aegis-equipped ships to perform ballistic missile defense.

The Aegis Weapon System is the world's premier naval defense system and the sea-based element of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). Its precision SPY-1 radar and integrated command and control system seamlessly guides the interceptor and uplinks target track information to the missile for terminal homing.

Its ability to detect, track and engage targets ranging from sea-skimming cruise missiles to ballistic missiles in space is proven. The Aegis BMD Weapon System also integrates with the BMDS, receiving track data from and providing track information to other BMDS elements.

The 92 Aegis-equipped ships currently in service around the globe have more than 950 years of at-sea operational experience and have launched more than 3,500 missiles in tests and real-world operations. In addition to the U.S., Aegis is the maritime weapon system of choice for Australia, Japan, Norway, South Korea and Spain.

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 defense system, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3). It also has considerable experience in interceptor systems, kill vehicles, battle management command, control and communications, precision pointing and tracking optics, as well as radar and other sensors that enable signal processing and data fusion.

The company makes significant contributions to nearly all major U.S. Missile Defense Systems and participates in several global missile defense partnerships.