Boeing and the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) team recently bolstered America’s defense against long-range ballistic missiles, ahead of schedule, with the installation of the 44th interceptor.

Placing the interceptor in its silo meets a U.S. Department of Defense requirement of increasing the inventory to 44 by the end of this year.

This interceptor includes features demonstrated in the successful intercontinental ballistic missile intercept test conducted in May.

“The ballistic missile threat that our partners in the Missile Defense Agency are defending this country from requires always-ready capabilities,” said Norm Tew, Boeing vice president and GMD program director. “As the system architect for nearly two decades, Boeing continues to deliver through our expertise in developing, testing and fielding progressively advanced solutions for this vital mission.”

The interceptor is designed to launch and destroy ballistic missile threats after receiving detection and tracking information from land-, sea- and space-based sensors. Boeing has been the system’s prime contractor since 2001. The GMD system includes command-and-control facilities, communications terminals and a 20,000-mile fiber-optic communications network that interfaces with ballistic missile defense radars and other sensors.