Lockheed Martin Corp. is absorbing millions of dollars in cost overruns on the Pentagon’s new land-based radar for detecting incoming ballistic missiles.
(Bloomberg) — Lockheed Martin Corp. is absorbing millions of dollars in cost overruns on the Pentagon’s new land-based radar for detecting incoming ballistic missiles.
Costs exceeded what was initially a $784 million development and delivery contract — and then climbed above the level where the US Missile Defense Agency shares in paying for the overruns, according to the agency. It wouldn’t disclose the current cost or estimate for the project on completion.
Technical and supply-chain issues that have delayed by more than a year delivery of the new ground radar in Alaska that’s intended to improve US tracking and interception of a potential missile attack from North Korea, according to congressional auditors. The new radar is intended for use with the US’s network of space and sea-based sensors for missile interceptors based in Alaska and California.
A site in Clear, Alaska, to house the radar was completed in December 2021. But “the program continues to experience cost increases and schedule delays, which have postponed the contractor’s delivery” until at least Sept. 30, the Government Accountability Office said last month in its annual report on US missile defenses.
Read more: Lockheed’s Missile Defense Radar Is Delayed, the GAO Says
The government absorbed $75 million in overruns for its share, and Lockheed is responsible for the rest, according to Missile Defense Agency spokesman Mark Wright.
Asked how much Lockheed is spending, company spokesperson Kelly Vann said “In general, it is not our policy to release confidential information. We are working closely with MDA to support homeland defense and missile defense missions with the capabilities provided by the Long-Range Discrimination Radar.”
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