Lockheed Martin has won a contract totaling $1.96 billion to produce the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) weapon system for the UAE.

The contract is the first Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of the Thaad Weapon System and includes the production of two Thaad Weapon Systems and additional maintenance and support equipment.

“Lockheed Martin is pleased the US Government and the United Arab Emirates have reached an agreement on a path forward for the first foreign military sale of the Thaad Weapon System,” said Tom McGrath, vice president and programme manager for Thaad at Lockheed Martin.  “We look forward to working with our customers to deliver this important capability.”

Thaad interceptors are produced at Lockheed Martin’s Pike County Facility in Troy, Alabama.  The launchers and fire control units are produced at the company’s Camden, Arkansas, facility.

Lockheed Martin is currently under contract for four Thaad batteries for the US Army.

A contract for the delivery of the first two US Army batteries was awarded to Lockheed Martin in late 2006.  Contracts for batteries three and four were awarded in 2010 and early 2011 respectively.

Since 2005, the Thaad development program has completed 12 flight tests, with nine intercepts in nine attempts.  Thaad is the only missile defense system with the operational flexibility to intercept in both the endo- and exo-atmospheres to provide versatile capability to the warfighter. – TradeArabia News Service