WASHINGTON -- The Missile Defense Agency announced Friday it plans to award a contract to an Alaska company to test the nation's missile defense system housed in Kodiak.
On Friday the federal government released a notice that it intends to award a contract to the Alaska Aerospace Corp. -- and is not considering other bids -- to manage new testing of parts of the nation's ballistic missile defense systems.
The announcement comes amid reports of ballistic missile tests by North Korea, Iran and China.
The flight tests of missile defense systems would take place at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, and include "realistic deployment scenarios including the interception of target vehicles, track exercises and interoperations with other missile defense systems," the notice said. Navy Vice Adm. James Syring, who heads the Missile Defense Agency, toured the Kodiak facility in February, according to Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.
The "unique combination of geography, force protection, and infrastructure capability" is not available anywhere in the northern Pacific region but the facility in Kodiak, the announcement said.
"I think it's really impressive that if an intercontinental ballistic missile is launched from Iran or North Korea at any city in the United States … the missiles that are going to shoot it down are in Alaska," Sullivan said.
The announcement is just the first step, Sullivan cautioned. The agency still has to issue an actual contract, and then complete an environmental review and round of public meetings. The details of the likely contract -- funding amounts, construction, potential new military employees -- are still unknown.
"I was in Kodiak a couple of weeks ago" meeting with local leaders, and "told them I'd been working this pretty hard and things were starting to look favorable, and so I believe the community there is going to be supportive," Sullivan said, noting a large military contract could bring diversification and benefits to Kodiak's economy.
Sullivan and Alaska Republicans Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young lauded the decision as demonstration the U.S. military increasingly views Alaska as a key strategic military location.
The U.S. Air Force recently solidified plans to house new F-35 jets at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks. The U.S. Army put plans to reduce forces at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on hold, despite personnel cuts moving forward elsewhere in the country. And Friday's announcement follows a separate plan by the missile agency to build a $300 million Long Range Discrimination Radar system at Clear Air Force Station.
"Today's announcement is great news for Kodiak and for Alaska," said Murkowski. "The Missile Defense Agency continues to recognize Alaska's geographic advantage in the execution of its mission," part of a "long-standing relationship between the Missile Defense Agency and our state," she said.
"The potential opportunity for regional missile defense flight testing on Kodiak … would help revitalize a long-standing partnership between (the Missile Defense Agency) and the Alaska Aerospace Corp.," Sullivan said.
Sullivan, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, noted his efforts to include a provision in the fiscal year 2016 defense authorization bill "highlighting the importance of the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska in helping the Department of Defense meet its national security requirements."
Young touted himself as "an early supporter of our nation's Ballistic Missile Defense System," and said with "growing threats from North Korea, combined with Iran's nuclear ambitions, it's vital that the United States remain vigilant in our efforts to defend against rogue nations set on acquiring and using long-range missile technology."
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the year of the defense authorization bill Sen. Dan Sullivan referenced. The fiscal year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law Nov. 25, 2015.