Lockheed Martin to upgrade on-board telemetry for infrared missile-warning reconnaissance satellites
LOS ANGELES AFB, Calif., 24 Sept. 2014. Satellite reconnaissance experts at Lockheed Martin Corp. are upgrading the design of U.S. Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) reconnaissance satellites to accommodate dual band telemetry, tracking, and communications capability.
Officials of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile System Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., announced a $42.9 million contract modification earlier this month to the Lockheed Martin Space Systems segment in Sunnyvale, Calif., to make the changes in the SBIRS 5 and 6 satellites.
SBIRS will consist of four dedicated satellites operating in geosynchronous Earth orbit, and sensors on two host satellites operating in a highly elliptical orbit to provide strategic and theater ballistic missile warning capabilities.
Lockheed Martin will redesign the interfacing, software, power, thermal, and structures to accommodate the new dual-band-capable transponder box and cabling. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the SBIRS prime contractor.
Company engineers also will add a unified S-band uplink frequency and modulation scheme to the existing SBIRS space to ground link system L-band uplink capability.
On this contract modification Lockheed Martin will do the work in Sunnyvale, Calif., and should be finished by July 2021. For more information contact Lockheed Martin Space Systems online at www.lockheedmartin.com/us/ssc, or the Air Force Space and Missile System Center at www.losangeles.af.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
