Boeing Responds to Missile Defense Agency's GMD Information Request

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has responded to a U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) request for industry feedback on the follow-on Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program.

Boeing submitted its response to MDA's request for information (RFI). RFI responses will help MDA determine its strategy for the follow-on effort to the current GMD contract.

Increasingly complex ground and flight tests over the past two years have demonstrated the GMD system's capability and reliability. Drawing on its global systems engineering experience and success, Boeing has led the GMD industry team, which includes Orbital Sciences Corp., Raytheon Company, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, Bechtel National Inc. and Teledyne Brown Engineering, from program inception to operations. The Boeing GMD team's unmatched readiness positions it well to continue building on that progress.

The Missile Defense Agency rated Boeing's work as exceptional during the company's annual performance evaluation on GMD system development and maintenance.

"The GMD team includes partners Orbital, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Bechtel and Teledyne Brown, and each partner brings important elements to the system. However, GMD's successful performance is not measured by its individual pieces, but rather by how it functions as an integrated system -- which would not be achieved without MDA's vision and Boeing's extensive integration capabilities and leadership," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "Continuing to leverage this proven industry team will guarantee a robust capability our nation can rely on to defend itself against long-range ballistic missiles. We are proud of our continuing role in providing an increasingly robust ballistic missile defense to our warfighters, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue leading this vital component of our nation's defense."

GMD is the nation's only defense against long-range ballistic missiles, with interceptors deployed in underground silos at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and Ft. Greely, Alaska. 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. The U.S. government has placed Boeing under contract to develop a GMD interceptor site for Europe. The GMD program has had seven successful intercept tests, including intercepts with operationally configured interceptors in September 2006 and September 2007.