Raytheon won a $1.5 million contract from DARPA for phase one of the agency’s Space Enabled Effects for Military Engagements, or SeeMe, program, announced the company. Under SeeMe, DARPA envisions a constellation of low-cost, small-sized imagery satellites that could be readily placed in orbit to provide military personnel in the battlespace with direct, on-demand imagery information to enhance their situational awareness, according to the company’s Dec. 13 release. “Leveraging our state-of-the-art missile assembly lines, we can mass produce these small, lightweight satellites quickly and affordably,” said Tom Bussing, Raytheon Missile Systems’ vice president of advanced missile systems. For phase one, the company will use the next nine months to complete the satellite’s design. Under the subsequent second phase, Raytheon said it would build six satellites for ground testing. Raytheon is teamed with Sierra Nevada, the University of Arizona, and SRI International for this work. (See also DARPA’s SeeMe webpage.)
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.
