Here is more on the recent decision to provide further funding for the AEGIS BMD program:

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) awarded Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] a $1 billion contract for continued development and evolution of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Weapon System. Under the contract, Lockheed Martin’s Surface-Sea Based Missile Defense line of business, in Moorestown, N.J., will design, develop, integrate, test, deliver and install further Aegis BMD capability for the U.S. and allied navies.

“This contract will both continue the spiral development of Aegis BMD capability to meet expanding global security threats and increase the number of BMD-capable ships at sea by integrating Aegis BMD into the Aegis Modernization program,” explained Orlando Carvalho, vice president and general manager of the Lockheed Martin business completing the work. “This further supports the increasing demand for Aegis BMD capability worldwide, especially in light of the Administration’s recent shift in policy in European Missile Defense.”

Currently, a total of 21 Aegis BMD-equipped warships – 19 in the U.S. Navy and two in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force – have the certified capability to engage ballistic missiles and perform long-range surveillance and tracking missions. The U.S. Navy is modifying two additional U.S. East Coast-based Aegis-equipped ships to perform ballistic missile defense.  [Defence Professionals]