Jane Edwards
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Technologies have concluded ahead of schedule a system requirements review of the Next Generation Interceptor.
The milestone came after the Northrop-Raytheon team demonstrated the NGI Common Software Factory, which supports rapid software development and delivery through DevSecOps implementation, the companies said in a joint release published Monday.
In March, the Northrop-led team secured a contract from the Missile Defense Agency to perform technology development and risk reduction work on the NGI program, which is part of the ground-based midcourse missile defense system and seeks to protect the U.S. against intercontinental ballistic missile threats.
The industry team also uses model-based systems engineering and performs risk reduction hardware testing and development work to facilitate NGI deployment.
With the completion of the review, Raytheon and Northrop will now advance preliminary system design, continue risk reduction testing and perform critical component qualification efforts.
Tay Fitzgerald, vice president of strategic missile defense at Raytheon Missiles & Defense, said the company provides kill vehicle payloads against missile threats and has performed 47 exo-atmospheric intercepts to date.
Fitzgerald added that Raytheon is confident that the program will move into preliminary design review through its digital system design process.
