The estimated cost of completing the Lockheed Martin Theater High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) missile programme for the US Army has risen by $1.4 billion, to $7.7 billion, because of a restructuring triggered by the US Department of Defense's (DoD) Quadrennial Defense Review .
The programme was restructured after target-intercept tests resulted in failure. It was decided to extend the flight-test schedule and undertake risk-reduction activities during engineering and manufacturing development.
The DoD has also begun to explore commonality between interceptors and kill vehicles used in the US Army project and the US Navy theatre ballistic-missile-defence effort, which by itself will cost an estimated $6.2 billion.
The Defense Review has also driven up the cost of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft, but the financial impact of this will not be clear until later in 1997.
Source: Flight International
