Northrop Grumman has announced recent milestones for two of the Air Force’s major next-generation satellite programs. In a release Monday, the company said it delivered the payload module for the third advanced extremely high frequency military communications satellite on Feb. 27 to Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for AEHF. Next up for the payload is mating with the AEHF satellite bus, Northrop said, noting that the delivery took place three weeks ahead of schedule. And, according to a Feb. 27 release, Northrop has completed thermal vacuum testing of the sensor payload for the second space based infrared system early warning satellite dubbed GEO-2. As with AEHF, Northrop is the payload supplier to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. This spring, the payload will be delivered to Lockheed for integration on the GEO-2 satellite bus.
Competitors Not Picked for CCA Look Forward to Increment 2
April 25, 2024
While none of the major aircraft contractors were selected to develop the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, all three say they are seeking further autonomous aircraft work for the Navy, foreign partners, or in the classified arena, and maybe future versions of the CCA itself.