Elma Electronic Contracted for MDA’s SHIELD Program

Elma Electronic Inc. has been awarded a segment of the Missile Defense Agency’s Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) program as part of a defense contract with an overall ceiling of $151 billion. The contract will help the U.S. build its “Golden Dome” missile shield protection (see image above).

Elma will contribute to the program as part of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract. The SHIELD program leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in combination with advanced digital engineering to provide the agility to rapidly develop open systems architectures for the MDA. 

Vice president of sales for Elma Electronic, David Feinstein, remarked, “Being selected for the SHIELD contract vehicle reinforces Elma’s role as a trusted partner delivering mission-ready embedded computing technology, prototyping, architecture development, as well as integration and assembly expertise for the nation’s most critical defense systems.”

He added, “A key component of this program is open systems architectures, an area where Elma has been at the forefront for decades.”

The first-phase award on the SHIELD program enables the company to support existing and evolving requirements for Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) developments pertaining to missile systems. 

As part of the SHIELD program, Elma will help speed the development of rugged embedded computing systems for rapidly evolving missile defense systems. Those systems will support a wide range of open standards, including VITA-based standards such as OpenVPX and SOSA. The ITAR-registered firm’s U.S.-based facilities will provide efficient prototyping of advanced electronic systems, full system integration and assembly, and comprehensive test and measurement capabilities.