Nichols Martin
Boeing and the Missile Defense Agency have installed a 44th and final interceptor for the country’s Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System at Fort Greely in Alaska.
The company said Tuesday installation was completed ahead of schedule and will address a Defense Department requirement to increase the country’s inventory of GMD interceptors to 44 before the end of 2017.
MDA tested the capacity of GMD system to intercept an intercontinental ballistic missile target during a live-fire test that occurred in May.
GMD interceptors are designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles based on information from land-based, sea-based and space-based sensors.
The system consists of command-and-control facilities, communications terminals and a 20,000-mile fiber-optic communications network integrated with missile radars and various sensors.
