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SBIRS is part of the Defense Department’s missile warning network that detects ballistic missile launches. It includes a combination of two infrared sensors in highly elliptical orbit and five satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit. Lockheed Martin has been the SBIRS primary contractor since the mid-1990s. The fifth satellite launched May 18. The sixth and final SBIRS is in production and projected to launch in 2022. The five-year sole-source contract is for operations and maintenance of the SBIRS mission control center at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado, and other operations centers at Peterson Air Force Base and Greeley Air National Guard...

Over the past decade, the Air Force has poured more than $80 billion into space technologies, including new satellites, launch services and information systems. The plan for the coming years is to spend considerably less as pressure grows to reduce the U.S. defense budget. The Air Force still intends to modernize key satellite constellations and provide space-based communications and surveillance services for the military and intelligence community. But program costs are going to be scrutinized at an unprecedented level of detail, Air Force officials said. Every major space program is now the subject of “should-cost” reviews, which is the Pentagon’s...

U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin marked a testing milestone for its missile launch early warning and surveillance geosynchronous orbit spacecraft. Lockheed Martin has successfully completed the first phase of the Baseline Integrated System Test on its second Space-Based Infrared System satellite spacecraft technology. The Baseline Integrated System Test, which is an extensive functional test on the SBIRS GEO, marks a milestone for Lockheed Martin and paves the way for final factory work. The SBIRS GEO is designed to provide the U.S. military with next-generation missile detection and surveillance capabilities. "Concluding the first phase of Baseline Integrated System Test is another...

The Obama administration’s proposed 2011 spending plan includes some changes to major missile defense and space programs that emphasize a focus on space situational awareness and ballistic missile tracking capabilities. The proposal also underpins the aging nuclear weapons infrastructure, while adhering to the aim of eventually scrapping nuclear forces altogether and securing so-called nuclear loose material worldwide. Few new expensive programs are being started in Fiscal 2011, and the most dramatic shift in the funding request is the termination of the joint Defense-Commerce Dept. National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (see p. 14). By contrast, the Air Force is setting...

The makers of America’s rockets and satellites “are still stumbling on fundamentals too often,” said Gary Payton, former astronaut and the top Air Force man on space acquisition. Payton’s comments seem to indicate a continuing trend of shoddy quality control among those whose toughest job is turning out top quality parts and software and making sure they work and fit well. The biggest problem lies with suppliers, who are selling equipment that is just not up to snuff, Payton said. However, the primes also must shoulder blame since they are not overseeing suppliers at the factory level as closely as...

The trend over the last several years of annual funding increases for U.S. Air Force space activity appears to be at an end, and that, coupled with the ongoing recapitalization of the service’s operational satellite fleets, means there is little money left for new development initiatives. The service’s 2011 budget request, submitted to Congress Feb. 1, scales back the Third Generation Infrared Surveillance (TGIRS) program and curbs funding for the Operationally Responsive Space Office. This follows U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision early last year to cancel the $26 billion Transformational Satellite communications system. Overall, the request includes $8 billion for...

The recent Chinese missile defense test is just one of many signs that anti-ballistic missile systems are the “must have” military fashion accessory of 2010. For China the need for such weapons is obvious: the only neighbors they have who lack a real or potential short- to medium-range missile capability are Laos, Burma, and perhaps Mongolia. All of their other neighbors, especially Russia, North Korea. and India, have been building up their rocket forces at a rapid rate. For both Europe and China, any effective BMD requires space-based early warning sensors similar to the US Defense Support Program satellites based...

The U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin team developing the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) program has achieved two key milestones: a testing milestone demonstrating that the ground system is on track to support launch of the first SBIRS geosynchronous (GEO-1) satellite in the constellation, and a maturity milestone moving the ground system into the next level of integration. SBIRS will deliver unprecedented, global, persistent infrared surveillance capabilities by providing early warning of missile launches, and simultaneously supporting other missions including missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness. The testing milestone, known as the Combined Day-In-The-Life Test (CDITL), validated the functionality, performance, and...

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems was awarded a $46 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to continue development of an infrared sensor intended for a missile warning system that may succeed the over-budget and behind-schedule Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) now in development. The Air Force several years ago began planning for a so-called third-generation missile warning system even as it continued to fall behind on the development of SBIRS, a program dogged by technical troubles. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., is the prime contractor for the SBIRS program, which consists of dedicated missile...

SUNNYVALE, Calif., September 28, 2005 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] today announced the successful delivery of its second Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO 2) payload, a critical element of the nation's next-generation missile warning system, known at the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) program. The payload ultimately will be integrated with a host satellite and launched into a highly elliptical orbit to globally scan for, detect and report missile launches and other infrared events of military interest. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, Calif., the SBIRS prime contractor, and its subcontractor Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, Azusa, Calif., built the two HEO payloads for...