HUNTSVILLE — A major milestone has been passed for the nation’s missile defense program.

Lockheed Martin said its Next Generation Interceptor program recently executed the digital All Up Round Preliminary Design Review. The review is in partnership with the Missile Defense Agency. The company said it remains on-plan to deliver NGI on an accelerated schedule for the warfighter.

Lockheed Martin’s NGI program is headquartered in Huntsville.

The means Lockheed Martin’s NGI program has progressed solidly in its design work, the company said. It will next begin procuring long-lead hardware to support manufacturing of flight test vehicles.

“I am proud of our team’s commitment to innovating with urgency to achieve expectations for this phase of the program,” said Sarah Hiza, vice president and general manager of Strategic and Missile Defense at Lockheed Martin. “With this additional confidence in our NGI design through a week-long digital review with our MDA customer, we are on track to deliver the right solution to meet the needs of the nation.”

NGI is part of the MDA’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and will provide a new, advanced interceptor to protect the homeland against long range ballistic missile threats from rogue nations. During this review, the MDA assessed the NGI program’s readiness and maturity to continue into the detailed design phase, confirming that Lockheed Martin’s solution continues to meet requirements for the mission.

Lockheed Martin used digital engineering and model-based engineering tools to conduct the PDR with a modern and transparent approach.

The first Lockheed Martin NGI is forecast for delivery to the warfighter as early as FY2027.