The U.S. Air Force has awarded the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT]/Northrop Grumman [NYSE: NOC] Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) Space Segment Team a $75-million, six-month extension to its Risk Reduction and System Definition (RR&SD) contract.
Over the next several weeks, the team will focus on delivering an Interim Design Review (IDR) in early April 2009 for the initial TSAT satellite constellation, known as Block 10. Under the restructured program, the initial increment of TSAT will consist of five Block 10 satellites and associated ground control systems with a first launch capability by 2019. The IDR will verify the maturity of the updated space segment specification, demonstrate that the team’s design meets performance requirements as well as analyze other system acquisition and operations activities, including life-cycle costs, plans to enter the production phase, and approaches to eliminating risks throughout the program’s life. The review will detail plans for testing of various products, verification of system performance, and compliance with government requirements including overall security of the system. In addition, the team will continue to mature the technologies demonstrated during earlier RR&SD milestones to verify their readiness for full-scale development, manufacturing, integration, and operations.
Some of the key technologies for TSAT are digital processing to include radiation-hardened Application Specific Integrated Circuits, Radio Frequency antennas and electronics, Hall Current Thrusters, Lithium-Ion Batteries, and deployable radiators. Following the IDR, the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman TSAT space segment team, which includes Juniper Networks, Inc., Sunnyvale, California, ViaSat, Carlsbad, California, and Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services, Gaithersburg, Maryland, will continue technology risk reduction and systems engineering in support of preliminary design activities. The RR&SD effort will culminate with a multi-billion dollar development contract scheduled to be awarded to a single contractor in 2010.
The restructured program defers some TSAT content, such as high-speed lasercom inter-satellite links, to future TSAT satellite blocks, while preserving critical features such as protection against man-made and natural threats, defenses against cyber attack, backward compatibility with the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite constellation and terminals, native Internet Protocol packet routing, and communications-on-the-move. TSAT provides significantly more capacity and connections than the Milstar and AEHF systems, improving availability of protected satellite communications for future military operations. It will provide connectivity across the spectrum of mission areas, to include land, air and naval warfare; special operations; strategic nuclear operations; strategic defense; homeland security; theatre operations; and space operations and intelligence. The Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing, located at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the TSAT contract manager and lead agency for ensuring the capabilities of this system are made available to the warfighter.
