Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has successfully completed a key satellite payload trade study with Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor for the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS). Results of the study may be used to enhance the performance of follow-on satellites, improving their capacity to provide timely midcourse tracking data and report missile attacks. The Missile Defense Agency plans to develop and maintain a small constellation of satellites to detect enemy missiles through all phases of flight. Building on its successful demonstrator payload design, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) seeks to provide system architecture and sensor upgrades for the satellites. Advanced demonstrator payloads developed by SAS consist of an acquisition and a tracking sensor and a processing subsystem for integration into STSS satellites. Raytheon’s early warning technology permits acquisition and tracking above and below the horizon. Two STSS satellites are slated for launch this year as part of the Block 06 missile defense system. Each STSS satellite packs a Raytheon IR sensor payload; a wide-view acquisition refractive sensor for boost-phase detection, and a narrow-view sensor for tracking delivery vehicles through the middle of their trajectories in space—El Segundo, California
Raytheon Tracking For Sat-based Defense
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has successfully completed a key satellite payload trade study with Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor for the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS). Results of the study may be used to enhance the performance of follow-on satellites, improving their capacity to provide timely midcourse tracking data and report missile attacks. The Missile Defense Agency plans to develop and maintain a small constellation of satellites to detect enemy missiles through all phases of flight. Building on its successful demonstrator payload design, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) seeks to provide system architecture and sensor upgrades for the satellites. Advanced demonstrator payloads developed by SAS consist of an acquisition and a tracking sensor and a processing subsystem for integration into STSS satellites. Raytheon’s early warning technology permits acquisition and tracking above and below the horizon. Two STSS satellites are slated for launch this year as part of the Block 06 missile defense system. Each STSS satellite packs a Raytheon IR sensor payload; a wide-view acquisition refractive sensor for boost-phase detection, and a narrow-view sensor for tracking delivery vehicles through the middle of their trajectories in space—El Segundo, California
