Lockheed Martin’s Next Generation Interceptor program reached a milestone recently when its digital design was approved by the Missile Defense Agency. The NGI program is based in Huntsville.
The NGI is part of the Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and will provide an advanced interceptor to protect the U.S. against long range ballistic missile threats from rogue nations.
During the preliminary design review, the MDA assessed that the program is ready to continue into the detailed design phase.
“I am proud of our team’s commitment to innovating with urgency to achieve expectations for this phase of the program,” said Sarah Hiza, vice president and general manager of strategic and missile defense at Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin used digital engineering and model-based engineering tools to conduct the preliminary design review. These tools, which enable early and frequent hardware and software testing, drive affordability within the program, as the company progresses to deliver a mature and reliable interceptor to the MDA.
Lockheed Martin will next begin procuring long-lead hardware to support manufacturing of flight test vehicles. It also will move forward toward the critical design review, which it expects to complete in the third quarter of 2025. During this next review, the MDA will assess when flight testing can begin.
