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1 week ago
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The US Space Force (USSF) has awarded Northrop Grumman a $244 cardinal declaration to make precocious relay crushed stations successful the United States and the United Kingdom.
These installations volition enactment the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) program, a cardinal constituent of America’s evolving rocket informing and tracking infrastructure.
The caller stations are expected to amended planetary sum and resilience for satellites designed to observe rocket launches and imaginable threats, portion ensuring compatibility with bequest systems and newer constellations.
Scalable crushed systems for evolving threats
Northrop Grumman volition deploy a flexible, modular crushed presumption plan that builds upon the company’s acquisition with the Relay Ground Station-Asia (RGS-A), presently nether improvement successful Guam.
The caller stations volition supply adaptable infrastructure to accommodate changes successful outer bandwidth and operational demands.
“We are processing precocious relay crushed stations that are scalable and upgradeable, and prioritize precocious performance, reliability and ngo flexibility for the Next-Gen OPIR program,” said Calvin Pennamon, manager of operational exploitation systems astatine Northrop Grumman, successful an official property release.
“Our crushed systems volition heighten communications betwixt Space System Command’s bequest and aboriginal Space Based Infrared Systems, providing entree to aggregate constellations enabling warfighters to support a decisive borderline against force threats.”
The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, acting connected behalf of the Space Systems Command, selected Northrop Grumman for the multiple-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract.
Strengthening the FORGE modernization framework
The ground stations are a captious portion of the USSF’s Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) system—an expansive effort to upgrade and integrate US rocket informing capabilities.
FORGE aims to found a government-owned crushed web that links existent and aboriginal rocket detection satellites done modernized bid and power operations.
Complementing Northrop’s contract, the Space Systems Command precocious announced a $259 cardinal grant to SciTec, a New Jersey-based bundle developer, to further FORGE’s integrated endeavor buildout.
The institution volition make a crushed strategy supporting FORGE and non-FORGE assets, enhancing continuity crossed bequest SBIRS and Next-Gen OPIR information pipelines.
SciTec’s anterior engagement includes a $272 cardinal declaration successful 2022 for information processing tools, $45.8 cardinal successful 2023 for SBIRS sensor processing applications, and $5 cardinal successful 2021 for prototype development.
Much of SciTec’s specialized bundle is engineered astatine its Boulder, Colorado, facility.
S2E2 and ATLAS systems deepen space-based defenses
As portion of the broader modernization push, the USSF besides activated the Survivable Endurable Evolution (S2E2) crushed strategy earlier this month.
Designed to regenerate the aging 1960s-era Mobile Ground System, S2E2 processes infrared information and integrates a atomic detonation detection system.
Additionally, L3Harris secured a declaration successful March to upgrade the Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System (ATLAS), which monitors anti-satellite enactment and threats successful orbit.
Global sum done distributed relay networks
The caller US- and UK-based stations complement the ongoing operation of RGS-A successful Guam, reinforcing the USSF’s extremity of achieving global, persistent rocket informing capabilities.
These relay hubs let early-warning signals from infrared satellites to scope bid networks and deployed forces much reliably.
Next-Gen OPIR remains a cornerstone of the US defence architecture, offering captious situational consciousness and real-time rocket motorboat detection to support nationalist and allied interests.
English (US) ·