Lockheed Martin SBIRS Team Submits Proposal to Air Force for Follow-On Production Phase
April 16, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The Lockheed Martin Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) team submitted a proposal for the program's follow-on production phase and completed a major preliminary design review (PDR) milestone with the U.S. Air Force.
The SBIRS program is designed to provide early warning of missile launches and simultaneously support other missions including missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness, according to Lockheed Martin.
The SBIRS follow-on program, which will complete the SBIRS constellation, will add the third and fourth highly elliptical orbit (HEO) payloads, as well as the third and an option for a fourth geosynchronous orbit (GEO) spacecraft, experts said.
The proposal, submitted on March 22, builds on the experience of prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems and payload integrator, Northrop Grumman in providing the SBIRS development program for the Space-Based Infrared Systems Wing at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.
Working under an initial $370 million contract for advanced procurement phase, the team completed PDRs for the HEO & GEO payloads and systems along with components and subsystems. With the completion of the SBIRS follow-on program PDR phase, the program team will transition to the critical design review (CDR) stage, followed by the production phase.
Lockheed Martin's current SBIRS contract includes the two HEO payloads now on-orbit, two GEO satellites, as well as ground-based assets to receive and process the infrared data.
The contract award for the additional GEO spacecraft and HEO payloads is expected in late 2009, according to Lockheed Martin.
Source: Lockheed Martin Corp.