Lockheed seeks lucrative Boeing missile-defense job

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) is aiming to unseat Boeing Co (BA.N) for a potential 10-year, $6 billion deal and to take responsibility for the U.S. strategic missile shield.

"Lockheed Martin welcomes the opportunity to apply our talent and experience to a broader set of requirements for this important missile defense system," retired Army Major General John Holly, a Lockheed vice president for missile defense, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement followed a Pentagon decision to combine contracts for the operations and maintenance of the so-called Ground-based Mid-course Defense, or GMD, with work on the system's continued development.

GMD is the hub of a layered, multibillion-dollar U.S. bulwark against ballistic missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.

The sole U.S. defense against long-range missiles, it was deployed by then-President George W. Bush in 2004 and involves silo-based missile interceptors in California and Alaska.

The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, in a Nov. 25 posting on the Federal Business Opportunities website, said the combined GMD work was expected to have an annual value of about $600 million for five to 10 years.

In adding development, fielding and systems engineering, the contract would go significantly beyond GMD operations and logistics support, which the agency previously had announced as the potential scope.

Boeing has led the GMD industry team since its inception. The value of its contracts would total about $18 billion from January 2001, when it formally became the prime contractor, through December 2011, when the latest contract ends, Boeing spokesman Chuck Cadena said.