Lockheed Martin announced last week that the Lockheed-Northrop Grumman team working on the Transformational Satellite Communications System had “achieved a key design milestone … that will dramatically increase data transfer speeds.” The Air Force recently released a draft version of a restructured TSAT program that would defer more advanced capabilities, but a senior acquisition official said the service remains committed to the program. Lockheed and Boeing have been competing during a TSAT risk reduction phase, but Air Force deputy undersecretary for space, Gary Payton, said other companies may also bid under the restructured program. The Lockheed-Northrop team has “matured” its SpaceWire databus technology, such that it can “transfer electronic data at least 80 times faster than current databus technology,” said Mark Pasquale, Lockheed’s TSAT vice president. He said it’s a “highly reliable and robust distributed architecture routing system,” making it the “ideal solution” for TSAT, which must move large amounts of data around the spacecraft.
The F-47 fighter will be run differently than previous fighter programs and share the same mission systems architecture as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. That means advances in one will fuel advances in the other.