{"id":53920,"date":"2018-02-01T20:20:13","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T20:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/01\/boeing-wins-66-billion-deal-to-support-missile-defense-system-build-more-interceptors\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:58:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:58:31","slug":"boeing-wins-66-billion-deal-to-support-missile-defense-system-build-more-interceptors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/2018\/02\/01\/boeing-wins-66-billion-deal-to-support-missile-defense-system-build-more-interceptors\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing wins $6.6B deal to support missile defense system, build more interceptors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Boeing has won a sole-source, $6.6 billion deal to build a new silo and 20 more ground-based interceptors (GBI)<\/a> and to sustain the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, according to a Jan. 31 Pentagon announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award is an undefinitized modification of a previous contract for development and sustainment of the GMD system \u2014 the primary homeland defense system against possible intercontinental ballistic missile attacks from North Korea and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If all options are exercised, the total contract could total $12.6 billion, which includes the previous contract amount of $6.1 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the contract modification, the MDA \u201cexecutes missile defeat and defense enhancements to complete the accelerated delivery of a new missile field with 20 additional silos and two additional silos in a previously constructed missiled field at Fort Greely, Alaska, and the procurement and deployment of 20 additional [GBIs],\u201d the announcement states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are currently 44 GBIs installed in the United States, 40 at Fort Greely and four at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The 44th and final GBI<\/a> \u2014 under the previous requirement \u2014 was put in place at Greely on Nov. 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As fear of missiles from North Korea and Iran reaching U.S. soil increase, the Pentagon, the White House and Congress have majorly boosted funding to build an increasingly robust system to defend the homeland against ICBM threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon and the MDA had indicated in the fall of 2017 that it intended to build up the GMD system beyond 44 interceptors<\/a>. In September, the Pentagon proposed reprogramming $136 million in fiscal 2017 to start raising the number of GBIs from 44 to 64 in a new Missile Field 4 at Fort Greely. The boost was part of a $416 million reprogramming request targeting missile defense needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the White House submitted a supplemental budget request for FY18 in November 2017 that asked for further funding to increase the number of GBIs by 20 and to build an additional missile field at the Alaska base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference report of the FY18 defense policy bill authorized the defense secretary \u2014 subject to what is appropriated \u2014 to increase the number of GBIs by up to 28. The conference report also required the defense secretary to develop a plan to increase the capacity, noting the currently available space in the missile fields could fit 104 GBIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\t