Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems delivered a Space Based Infrared System payload to Lockheed Martin for integration with a SBIRS geosynchronous spacecraft to be launched in 2016. The Sept. 30 delivery was the third payload delivered in 15 months, according to an Air Force Space Command release. The new payload will go on the fourth GEO satellite—last unit in the geosynchronous piece of the SBIRS constellation. “It takes a tremendous amount of work and dedication to bring these systems together, but it pays off when we deliver new capabilities to the warfighter,” said Maj. Jon Seal, GEO-4 vehicle manager. The fifth and sixth GEO satellites, which are under contract, eventually will replace the first two GEO satellites.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…