Germany selects Lockheed Martin's MEADS air defense system in a $4.5bn deal 30906153

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Defence & Security News - Germany
 
Germany selects Lockheed Martin's MEADS air defense system in a $4.5bn deal
The German government has decided to buy the MEADS (Medium Extended Air Defense System) missile defense system built by the European defense company MBDA and Lockheed Martin Corp, instead of the Patriot system built by Raytheon Co, a German government source said yesterday June 8, confirming reports in German and U.S. media.
     
Germany selects Lockheed Martin s MEADS air defense system in a 4 5bn deal 640 001Shown in their German configurations, a MEADS Multifunction Fire Control Radar, launcher, and battle manager appear together near Freinhausen, Germany
(MEADS International Inc.)
     
German television channel ARD reported that the procurement order could be worth 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion), adding that it had been approved by Volker Wieker, chief of staff of the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces. The German army is expected to buy between eight and ten units.

Germany has long sought to upgrade its current missile defense system comprised of Patriot missile equipment developed in the 1980s by Raytheon.

German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) defence spokesman Henning Otto said that the system would "close an important capability gap for the protection of our country and our soldiers on deployment." The German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has made reforming military procurement one of the main aims of her tenure.

According to the Washington Times, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer says he was informed of the decision Monday by the German Embassy.

The project is the largest in the history of the Lockheed Martin plant in suburban Syracuse. Its portion of the contract accounts for about $625 million of development work over nine years.

The MEADS contract has been concluded with new clauses to protect the German government from increased costs in case of delays and problems.

The MEADS air and missile defense system is composed of six major equipment items: a Multifunction Fire Control Radar (MFCR), a Surveillance Radar (SR), a Battle Management, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (BMC4I) Tactical Operations Center (TOC), a Launcher and a Reloader, and a Certified Missile Round (PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement and canister).

In September 2014, MEADS MFCRs completed a six-week performance test at Pratica di Mare Air Base, Italy, and MBDA Deutschland’s air defense center in Freinhausen. During the tests, the MEADS MFCR successfully demonstrated several advanced capabilities, many of which are critical for ground-mobile radar systems. Capabilities tested include tracking and canceling of jamming signals; searching, cueing and tracking in ground clutter; and successfully classifying target data using kinematic information.