Terran Orbital will deliver satellite buses to Lockheed Martin for use on the latter’s development of missile warning/tracking spacecraft under the Tranche 2 Tracking Layer contract with the Space Development Agency.
The Boca Raton, Florida-based small satellite builder was awarded a subcontract for 18 buses that will be incorporated into Lockheed’s wide field-of-view satellites with infrared sensors and/or missile defense infrared sensors, Terran Orbital said Monday.
The award builds on Terran Orbital’s previous work of manufacturing 36 Beta satellite buses for Lockheed for the second tranche of the SDA’s data communications transport layer.
“This continued partnership signifies the confidence Lockheed Martin places in Terran Orbital’s capabilities. We are excited to leverage our expertise and deliver these advanced space vehicles to support the SDA’s mission objectives,” said Marc Bell, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Terran Orbital.
SDA launched the T2 Tracking Layer initiative to have a preliminary missile defense capability in addition to having global, persistent indications, detection, warning and tracking of conventional and advanced missile threats.
Terran Orbital will manufacture the satellite buses for the layer at its advanced robotic space vehicle production facilities located in California.
