Next Generation Interceptor: ~$5.3B for design, development and testing — paying for the decade before it can fire (Lockheed Martin, MDA)
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency awarded Lockheed Martin the design, development, and developmental testing of the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) all-up-round, valued at about $5.26 billion over ten years from March 2021 to March 2031. What stands out is that spending of this size sits on development and testing rather than production.
Contract key facts
- RecipientLockheed Martin
- Contract value$5,475,397,699 (≈$5.48B)
- BranchDefense-wide
- Awarding agencyDepartment of Defense
- Awarding sub-agencyMissile Defense Agency
- Award typeDEFINITIVE CONTRACT
- Period of performance2021-03-25 〜 2031-03-31
- Contract ID (PIID)HQ085621C0001
The amount cited in the write-up ($5,264,261,430) is the figure at the time of writing. After later modifications the record now shows $5,475,397,699 (the details above are current).
Contract scope (original)
DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEVELOPMENTAL TESTING OF THE NEXT GENERATION INTERCEPTOR (NGI) ALL-UP-ROUND (AUR)
Key points
- The Missile Defense Agency awarded Lockheed Martin the design, development, and developmental testing of the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) all-up-round.
- Value about $5.26 billion ($5,264,261,430 cumulative); period March 25, 2021 to March 31, 2031 — ten years.
- All-up-round means a complete launchable article with booster and kill vehicle assembled.
- Award type DEFINITIVE CONTRACT; the scope is development and testing, not production.
- Production quantities, deployment, and any follow-on production contract are not in the recorded scope.
- A development-stage contract with outlays of about $1,591.85 million, 30.2 percent of obligations, against 1.0 percent across all 207.
1The phrase "All-Up-Round"
All-Up-Round (AUR) refers to a complete, launchable article with every element of an interceptor assembled — the booster, the kill vehicle, and the structure that joins them. Mid-development, those elements progress through separate test programs, so making them work as one finished round is a distinct problem of its own.
Putting that phrase in the contract title means the object of the award is not a component but a round that comes together.
2Ten years placed on development rather than production
The period of performance runs ten years, from March 2021 to March 2031. The award type is DEFINITIVE CONTRACT and the recorded scope is design, development, and developmental testing. In other words, this $5.26 billion is not the price of delivered hardware; it is spent on establishing whether the thing works.
Interception is a function with few ways to verify it other than firing at a target, so the testing itself carries heavy cost and long timelines. That a development contract can rival a production contract in size is specific to this field.
3What the record shows
The recipient is Lockheed Martin, the awarding agency is the Missile Defense Agency, and the figure is cumulative. Production quantities, deployment locations, and any subsequent production contract are not in the recorded scope, and this site does not write beyond what is recorded.
4Money and time placed on the development stage
This contract is not payment for delivery of equipment. It goes to the stage of confirming whether the thing will work at all. The amount nonetheless rivals a production contract.
That outlay ratio stands out sharply against the 1.0 percent across all 207 Department of Defense contracts this site holds as of 2026-09-01: money does move during development. Interception is a function with few ways to verify short of firing the real thing, and testing itself carries large cost and long time.
The outlay column in public data can be incompletely recorded, so it cannot be read directly as how far execution has progressed.
Why it matters
A development contract cannot be tracked by deliveries the way a production contract can. The available signals are how the period of performance shifts and how modifications accumulate, which makes following the public data over time worthwhile. On the industry side, winning development-phase work translates directly into holding engineering staff and maintaining test facilities, so a ten-year award is effectively a hiring plan.
FAQ
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Sources (primary)
This article is an independent organization based on the U.S. official spending data below. Verify the exact, latest details with the official source.
- USAspending (award details)
- Contract ID (PIID)：HQ085621C0001