Alaska Aerospace Corp. lands big federal contract for Kodiak launch site

An Alaska state-owned company just got a big boost in military funding.

The Missile Defense Agency on Thursday announced it is awarding a sole-source contract to the Alaska Aerospace Corp. for as much as $80.4 million.

That money will go toward supporting flight tests at the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska in Kodiak, as well as other launch facility and range support services.

The Missile Defense Agency said in a press release the work is expected to be finished in July 2022.

Alaska Aerospace President and CEO Craig Campbell said some of the money will be used for infrastructure development, including a gravel road and new launchpads near existing launch facilities.

The spaceport was damaged in 2014 four seconds into a launch. Campbell said repairs are almost complete, and Alaska Aerospace is in negotiations with a commercial contractor to use the launch site in 2017.

"That kind of explains why we're building the gravel pads a couple hundred yards away from that launch site," he said. "We'll probably have two different customers, the government operating and the commercial operating."

The company will support flight tests of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Systems, an element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. Two launches that are part of the contract are expected to happen in summer 2017, Campbell said.

"As I've been saying both in D.C. and back home, Alaska is the cornerstone of our nation's missile defense," said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, in a statement. "(Thursday's) announcement by the Missile Defense Agency further reinforces that statement by adding missile defense testing to our already robust strategic capabilities at Fort Greely and Clear Air Force Station."

Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young also praised the award.

Alaska Aerospace announced this year it would open a new office in Alabama. The company is also moving toward operating under a public-private partnership.