Boeing Adds Germany's LFK to "Alliance Shield" Team Competing for NATO Missile Defense Contract
Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced Germany's LENKFLUGKORPERSYSTEME GmbH (LFK) has joined the trans-Atlantic "Alliance Shield" team competing for NATO's upcoming Theater Missile Defense systems engineering and integration support contract.
"Germany's LFK offers world-class tactical missile systems capabilities which complement the strengths of Alliance Shield's other European and U.S. members," said Boeing Missile Defense Systems vice president and general manager Pat Shanahan. "The addition of LFK is a good example of our team's commitment to ensuring that the expertise gained from programs like Medium Extended Air Defence System becomes ingrained in NATO's theater missile defense future."
Alliance Shield is an international team comprised of companies with demonstrated experience in the design, development, integration and deployment of missile defense systems and systems of systems. In adding LFK to Alliance Shield, all of the companies responsible for the NATO Medium Extended Air Defence System (MEADS) program have now joined Alliance Shield. The announcement further underscores the team's comprehensive experience and ability to provide NATO with the theater missile defense solutions it is seeking.
LFK is the leading guided missile system house of Germany, offering a broad range of products in all market segments including air defence, said Werner Kaltenegger, CEO of LFK. "We are proud to be a member of the Alliance Shield team. LFK is going to contribute its outstanding and long-term experience in successful multi-national and trans-Atlantic co-operation programmes. I am convinced that our common effort will provide remarkable solutions to our customer."
Other Alliance Shield team members include BAE Systems of the United Kingdom, Finmeccanica of Italy, Havelsan of Turkey, Lockheed Martin of the U.S., MBDA of France, Italy and the United Kingdom, Przemyslowy Instytut Telekomunikacji (PIT) of Poland, and Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., of the U.S. Dr. David Martin, formerly the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's deputy for strategic relations, is the team's strategic advisor.
In March 2005 the North Atlantic Council approved NATO's new Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence program, aimed at providing protection to deployed NATO forces from the threat of ballistic missiles. With approval of that charter, a new program management organization was formed to oversee the enhancement of NATO's Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence capabilities. The contract for the systems engineering and integration efforts in support of the program management organization is expected to be awarded to an industry team in 2006.
Boeing is the prime contractor of the U.S. government's Ground-based Midcourse Defense and Airborne Laser programs. The company also has established missile defense agreements in the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, Australia and Japan. Other members of Alliance Shield have lead or are key participants in every other major missile defense program around the world.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.5 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer and a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in sustainment solutions and launch services.
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