Michael Griffin Expects Four Firms to Compete for Next-Generation Interceptor Program

Michael Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and a two-time Wash100 award winner, said he expects four vendors to submit proposals for the Next-Generation Interceptor program, Defense Daily reported Wednesday.

“One of the contractors who will be proposing will be the prior contractor, but there are three other contractors in the competitive procurement phase — for a total of four — that we will be evaluating proposals from,” Griffin said Wednesday during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s intelligence and emerging threats and capabilities subpanel.

The report said NGI replaces the Redesigned Kill Vehicle initiative, which the Department of Defense canceled in August due to “technical design problems.”

Boeing (NYS: BA) told the publication in an email that it intends to bid on the NGI program. The company was selected as the prime RKV contractor, while Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) served as the subcontractor for the RKV interceptor development effort.

Vice Adm. Jon Hill, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said at the McAleese Defense Programs Conference earlier this month that the release of a formal solicitation for the NGI program is “imminent.”