Bechtel has concluded design and construction of missile silos and fields required for the US Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) ground-based midcourse defence (GMD) programme.
Carried out under contract with Boeing since 1997, work has included engineering and construction of three missile fields comprising 40 silos at Fort Greely in Alaska, as well as four operational silos and one test silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB) in California, US.
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Additional work performed by the company over the course of contract includes design and construction of missile test sites at Vandenberg AFB and Meck Island in the Marshall Islands, as well as the Ground-Based Interceptor Development and Integration Lab in Alabama, US.
The company has also delivered required support services for the execution of several GMD programme’s successful flight tests, including the control test vehicle-01 test carried out at Vandenberg AFB in an effort to validate the overall performance of each part of the missile defence system in January this year.
Bechtel government services business unit president Craig Albert said the GMD programme represented the complex project of national importance.
"Our team’s commitment to the mission and collaboration with our customer ensured the customer’s goal was met safely, on time, and within budget," Albert said.
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By GlobalDataBechtel GMD project manager Joe Brown added: "The safety record on this project exceeded industry standards, even though the project locations were in remote areas where temperatures could range from -50°F to 95°F."
The GMD uses radars and sensors, command-and-control facilities, communications terminals and a 2,000-mile fibre-optic communications network to safeguard the US from long-range ballistic missile threats, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in space.
Boeing serves as GMD prime contractor and leads an industry team comprising Northrop Grumman, Orbital Sciences and Raytheon amongst others.
Image: The ground-based interceptor is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US. Photo: courtesy of MDA.
