The new building is located on the site of the former Courtland Army Airfield, which was activated in 1942 as a Basic Flying School for Air Cadets. The wartime site was built rapidly to support training for up to 100,000 new aviators a year and once housed more than 4,000 enlisted personnel.
After the airfield was deactivated in 1945, the property was transferred to the State of Alabama, and most of the original buildings were removed. In the 1980s, Lawrence County converted the site into an industrial park and airport.
Courtland returned to a national security role in 1994, when Lockheed Martin built nine facilities on the 660-acre campus. Over the past three decades, the site has become an integrated defense manufacturing hub, including MAB-4, a digital-first facility opened in 2021 to support hypersonic systems production.
Lockheed Martin said MAB-5 will mark a milestone for both its North Alabama operations and the wider U.S. missile defense architecture. The company said the facility will support the assembly and integration of NGI as space becomes a first line of defense against emerging threats.
NGI will be assembled and integrated at MAB-5 using digital engineering and advanced manufacturing tools. Lockheed Martin said digital models will guide assembly, allowing engineers to simulate system performance before physical production begins.
The facility will also use smart manufacturing practices such as robotic assembly, precision tooling and automated alignment. The company said these methods are intended to improve reliability and speed.
The Next Generation Interceptor is designed to defend the U.S. homeland against advanced long-range missile threats. Lockheed Martin said the system is intended to provide warfighters with the speed and accuracy needed to outpace adversaries.
The company said NGI is being developed as a first-line, tip-to-tail interceptor within the Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense system. It is intended to protect the homeland against evolving long-range ballistic missile threats from rogue nations.
Lockheed Martin was selected by the Missile Defense Agency in April 2024 to develop NGI. The company said its solution is intended to integrate into the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and support the mission from threat sensing to intercept.
The NGI program has begun moving from the technology development phase to the product development phase. Lockheed Martin said it is also working on design qualification, ground and flight test verification, and maturation to support a future production and fielding decision.
Lockheed Martin said the interceptor uses an extensible and upgradable architecture. The company said this approach is intended to preserve inventory, improve capability and help the warfighter stay ahead of current and future threats.
The company said NGI draws on its experience in missile intercept technology, space-hardened systems, exo-atmospheric threat intercepts, optical payload development and strategic missile systems. It also said testing with real hardware and software is supporting program milestones and reducing development risk.
Lockheed Martin said NGI has been “digital from day one.” The company said digital tools allow engineering decisions to be made faster, changes to be validated more easily and schedules to be preserved.
The company is also investing in modern production and system integration facilities designed specifically for the NGI mission. It said these purpose-built facilities, combined with digital tools and work instructions, are intended to reduce integration time and support future production needs.
Lockheed Martin said its maintenance and sustainment concept is designed to increase availability and reliability across the future NGI fleet. The company said it has taken a life-cycle view of the design to simplify shipment, sustainment and maintenance while reducing labor and operational downtime.
The NGI supplier base spans 47 U.S. states. Lockheed Martin said nearly 20% of the suppliers are small businesses, with multiple Mentor-Protégé agreements in place.
The company said the program marks the beginning of a new generation for the U.S. missile defense industrial base. It said continued development of 21st Century Security technologies, including NGI, is intended to help the United States deter, defend against and defeat emerging threats.
Lockheed Martin said the planned opening of MAB-5 brings Courtland’s history full circle. The company said the same ground once used to train World War II pilots will now support systems designed to strengthen U.S. missile defense and global security.
Source: Lockheed Martin.
