Lockheed Martin held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its Huntsville Integrated Test (HIT) Center in Huntsville, Alabama, earlier this week.

The Center will enable cost-effective and realistic testing of full-scale missile defense systems in a laboratory environment.

"This facility demonstrates Lockheed Martin's commitment to advancing the state-of-the-art in missile defense capabilities," said John W. Holly, Vice President of Missile Defense Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, who led the ceremony. "It also represents our continued investment in the Huntsville community, which plays a key role in protecting our nation."

The HIT Center will provide high fidelity, end-to-end testing of missile defense systems with full hardware and digital functionality, applying the "test-like-you-fly" philosophy. The center will support full-scale hardware-in-the-loop testing of missile defense interceptor and ground systems in a reconfigurable environment. Featuring two five-axis motion simulators with infrared scene generators, the center will support salvo and multi-tiered intercept scenarios, hardware and software validation, risk reduction and rapid evaluation of evolving threats. In this controlled laboratory environment, anomalies can be analyzed and pinpointed prior to further testing at government test ranges.

A variety of missile defense systems can be tested in the facility. This includes systems for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Development and Sustainment Contract, for which the Lockheed Martin- Raytheon team submitted its proposal Jan. 27, and other weapon system elements.

The entire center is equipped with high-speed fiber optic connectivity allowing it to connect to government laboratories and major first and second-tier missile defense suppliers, in the future.

The building will be ready for initial occupancy in May. An additional phase, which is planned for completion by the end of the year, will include a system integration laboratory and a missile integration laboratory.

The new facility is the ninth building in the Lockheed Martin 80-acre campus on Bradford Drive in Research Park, which the company has occupied since 1963.