Indefinite Delivery Contract HQ085926DE858

The Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) Multiple Award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract, awarded to Blue Aether Inc. by the Missile Defense Agency on December 29, 2025, represents a comprehensive defense procurement vehicle with a ceiling value of $151 billion over a ten-year period of performance extending through December 28, 2035. This indefinite delivery contract utilizes full and open competition with no set-asides and establishes a multiple-award IDIQ structure intended to serve as an enterprise-wide contracting mechanism for the Missile Defense Agency and other Department of Defense entities. The contract authorizes Blue Aether Inc., a self-certified small disadvantaged business specializing in advanced aerospace and defense research and development technologies, to provide all necessary materials, labor, equipment, and facilities required for task order performance. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with potential classified and unclassified program support across multiple security domains.

The SHIELD IDIQ procures an advanced, multi-domain defense system capable of detecting, tracking, intercepting, and neutralizing air, missile, space, cyber, and hybrid threats to the United States homeland, deployed forces, allies, and friends across all phases of flight including ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles. The contract encompasses research and development, prototyping, disruptive technology development, systems engineering, weapon design, production, test and evaluation, cybersecurity, and modernization efforts leveraging artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital engineering, and open systems architectures. An initial delivery order for the SHIELD Initial Order was issued on December 29, 2025, at $500 firm fixed price, establishing the foundation for subsequent task orders. This procurement strategy enables rapid issuance of flexible orders across multiple North American Industry Classification System codes and contract types, positioning the contract as a strategic vehicle to support the nation's layered multi-domain defense requirements over the decade-long performance period.