Contract signed for NATO’s missile defence command centre

The NATO Air Command and Control System Management Agency (NACMA) on behalf of the NATO Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence Programme Office and in coordination with the NATO C3 Agency, signed a contract today with ThalesRaytheonSystems to deliver a Ballistic Missile Defence Interim Capability element at NATO’s Air Command in Ramstein, Germany. The contract value is 3 M€.

Implementation of the contract, which is expected within three months, will deliver a key component towards NATO's objective of declaring an interim missile defence capability at its summit in Chicago in May. It will give NATO the capability to conduct 24/7 territorial missile defence operations while simultaneously deploying a theatre missile defence command and control capability to any necessary theatre of operations.

The interim capability will provide the ability to produce an integrated air and missile situational awareness picture at NATO’s Air Command Ramstein, Germany, in addition to the capability already established at NATO Combined Air Operations Centre in Uedem, Germany. It will thus increase the availability and resilience of NATO's ballistic missile defence capability. The capability will also enhance the NATO Commander’s ability to plan and shape a missile defence mission by monitoring and reporting ballistic missile defence events to key NATO locations in collaboration with the US Armed Forces.

The contract will replicate the operational hardware and software of the existing NATO interim theatre ballistic missile defence capability in a static implementation at NATO’s Air Command Ramstein. This system is being implemented by ThalesRaytheonSystems and is based on the latest configuration of the NATO Air Command and Control System (ACCS).

Industry engineers from ThalesRaytheonSystems will work in support of the ALTBMD Programme to deliver the ballistic missile defence interim capability element at Ramstein in time to declare NATO’s ballistic missile defence interim capability operational prior to the Alliance Summit in Chicago in May 2012.

“The implementation of this contract will strengthen NATO's capability by providing the reliability needed for 24/7 operations, and represents a major step to a NATO territorial missile defence capability against the growing proliferation of ballistic missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction,” said Mr Bernard Garot, ACCS Programme Director and Major General (ret) Alessandro Pera, ALTBMD Programme Manager. “In cooperation with our industry and national partners we continue to keep up a rapid pace of programme implementation.”

Contract signed for NATO’s missile defence command centre

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