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 Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more flexible, dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
