By SHELBY G. SPIRES
Times Aerospace Writer shelbys@htimes.com
A plan to build a new Pentagon missile here could bring 300 initial jobs and $25 million a year in payroll to Huntsville, defense contractors said Tuesday.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman sent a proposal to the Army this week bidding on the development and construction of the Joint Common Missile. If the contract is awarded next year to the Boeing-Northrop joint venture, company officials estimate it could bring as many as 500 jobs over the 20-year life of the program.
The Joint Common Missile will be developed and built at existing Boeing and Northrop Grumman facilities here in Huntsville. The Army is managing the Joint Common missile here and the two major defense contractors have facilities in place.
"There's a huge advantage here of being within a five-minute drive from our customer located here in Huntsville," said Roger Krone, senior vice president in charge of Boeing's Army Systems. "It puts our customer and contractor team together quickly."
Krone said about $25 million would be spent to upgrade existing buildings in Huntsville so the common missile could be built.
The Pentagon wants to purchase about 54,000 common missiles by 2018. The missile is intended to be a multiservice weapon that can be fired from helicopters, aircraft and possibly armored vehicles.
The missile will be designed to hit targets ranging from buildings and bunkers to tactical vehicles and advanced armor. The weapon has also been designed to destroy small naval targets such as patrol craft.
The advantage to the common missile, said James Pitts, vice president and general manager for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Division, is its tri-mode seeker.
"This missile will use millimeter wave, which is used in all weather conditions, and infrared or semi-active laser guidance to acquire the target and guide the warhead to the target," Pitts said.
No other missile has this capability. The common missile would replace the Hellfire and Maverick missiles, and would have a range of about 10 miles on a helicopter and about 18 miles from an aircraft, Krone said.
The Boeing team includes Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics Ordnance Tactical Systems and Alliant Techsystems (ATK).
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have a large presence in the Huntsville area. Boeing employs almost 3,000 people, mainly in space and missile defense jobs. Northrop Grumman employs more than 900 people at production facilities supporting Longbow, Hellfire and the Brilliant Anti-Tank, or BAT, precision munition programs.
