BAE Systems gets contract for missile-defense system components made in Nashua

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BAE Systems employees work on the THAAD interceptor seeker, built in Nashua, N.H. Photo courtesy of the company.

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By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Global defense contractor BAE Systems said Wednesday that it has received initial contract funding of $81 million from Lockheed Martin Corp. to begin production of 143 infrared seekers for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon-system program

The system, also known as THAAD, is designed to defend US and allied soldiers, military assets, and metropolitan areas from ballistic missile attack threats, BAE Systems said in a press release, and the seeker is made at BAE Systems’ facility in Nashua, N.H.

BAE Systems’ seeker “detects infrared radiation from the target missile and warhead and generates video guiding the interceptor to the target,” Barry Yeadon, THAAD program manager at BAE Systems, said in a statement included in the company’s release.

Lockheed Martin, the THAAD prime contractor, also awarded BAE Systems $5.3 million in initial contract funding for tooling and test equipment to increase the monthly production rate of the seeker, BAE Systems said.

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.