Lockheed's Delays on Interceptor Missile Hinder Mideast Defense, U.S. Says

Lockheed Martin Corp., the world’s largest defense contractor, is at least a year behind schedule delivering the first 24 of the Pentagon’s newest interceptor missile.

A safety switch intended to prevent accidental launches failed testing and these interceptors and 24 more can’t be assembled until it’s fixed, said Rick Lehner, a Missile Defense Agency spokesman. The switch is made by Moog Inc., a Lockheed subcontractor.

The interceptors are the centerpiece of the new regional missile defense that the Obama administration plans to deploy in the Middle East against Iran’s medium- and long-range ballistic missiles. Batteries of the land-based interceptors would be linked by sensors and radar to the U.S. Navy’s existing sea- based systems on Aegis-class destroyers and cruisers.

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