Lockheed Martin has taken three small businesses under its wing as part of its Next Generation Interceptor program.
Through the initiative, which falls under the Department of Defense’s Mentor-Protégé Program, the enterprise is working alongside Marotta Controls, Space Information Labs and Valley Tech Systems across several contracts to upgrade their capabilities and bolster the defense industrial base, Lockheed Martin announced from Huntsville, Alabama on Thursday.
“The Mentor-Protégé Program allows us to reduce barriers for small businesses; when small business wins, we all win,” said Sarah Reeves, vice president of NGI at Lockheed Martin.
She added that the company’s belief in the program’s strength is what drove it to mentor three different small businesses through NGI.
The initiative includes three potential two-year contracts awarded to Lockheed Martin by the Missile Defense Agency, under which it will collaborate with its mentees to help mature advanced engineering and technology capabilities, including model-based engineering and the digital thread.
Family-owned Marotta Controls focuses on subsystems for the aerospace and defense sectors.
Patrick Marotta, who serves as president and CEO of the Montville, New Jersey-based contractor, said that Marotta Controls is “privileged” to enter the Mentor-Protégé Program.
“As a small business, Marotta Controls understands the importance of support from the premiere defense contractor. We look forward to our continued growth as an agile partner delivering on our mission to support the warfighter and our nation’s defense,” he said.
A woman-owned business, SIL designs, manufactures and environmentally qualifies Li-Ion Intelli-Pack Batteries, AFTU and Space Based Range flight units for multi aerospace platforms.
“SIL is honored to be selected by Lockheed Martin through the Mentor-Protégé Program to increase our capability to produce and deliver various critical technologies for national security programs,” said Edmund Burke, president and founder of the Santa Maria, California-headquartered company.
Aerospace propulsion-focused small business VTS is based in Folsom, California and Reno, Nevada.
“Valley Tech Systems is excited to be selected by Lockheed Martin as a protégé under the DoD Mentor Protégé Program,” said Phil Csik, program manager at VTS.
“Lockheed Martin’s mentorship will add depth and robustness to our engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and mission assurance processes— enabling VTS to accelerate the application of our advanced controllable solid propulsion technology to enhance homeland defense and protect our warfighters,” Csik said.
When completed, NGI will be a part of the MDA’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense Weapon System. Lockheed Martin has already partnered with these three small businesses as subcontractors to develop, mature and field hardware for the NGI initiative using contemporary technologies created within the DOD’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs.