Global defense contractor BAE Systems said Wednesday that it has received initial contract funding of $81 million from Lockheed Martin Corp. to begin production of 143 infrared seekers for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon-system program

The system, also known as THAAD, is designed to defend US and allied soldiers, military assets, and metropolitan areas from ballistic missile attack threats, BAE Systems said in a press release, and the seeker is made at BAE Systems’ facility in Nashua, N.H.