Lockheed Martin has won a $29 million contract from the Air Force to develop the capability for individual satellites to discern potential threats in their vicinity. The company announced Oct. 29 that it will mature these technologies during a two-year, competitive phase of the service’s self-awareness space situational awareness program. This work includes designing a technology demonstration payload that provides tactical space situational awareness with dedicated communications. “Our SASSA approach will leverage our extensive system engineering and integration expertise, utilizing mature hardware and software to provide our customer with a low-risk, mission effective solution for this vitally important capability,” said Phil Bowen, Lockheed’s director of surveillance and intelligence systems. Lockheed Martin is one of two companies, along with Assurance Technologies of Carlisle, Mass., that the Air Force selected. These contracts were awarded Oct. 22. After the two-year development phase, the Air Force intends to pick a single contractor to do an on-orbit demonstration.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
