BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., May 18,
2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a successful launch from Cape
Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida earlier today, the U.S. Space Force's
Space Delta 4 operations team is now "talking" with the fifth Space
Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO-5)
satellite.
As planned, SBIRS GEO-5—built by Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)—is
responding to the Delta's commands. Signal acquisition was
confirmed approximately ~36 minutes after the satellite's
1:37 p.m. EDT launch aboard a
United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. Now separated from the
rocket, the satellite is continuing on to orbit under its own
propulsion.
SBIRS GEO-5 is the latest satellite to join the Space
Force's orbiting Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) missile
warning constellation equipped with powerful scanning and staring
surveillance sensors. These 24-7, always-on, orbital guardians
detect missile launches, support ballistic missile defense, expand
technical intelligence gathering and bolster situational awareness
on the battlefield.
"The world is a more threatening place now with more than 1,000
ballistic missile launches occurring globally every year," said
Tom McCormick, vice president of
Lockheed Martin Space's OPIR Mission Area. "SBIRS is the tip of the
missile defense spear, seeing all those missiles and providing our
military the ability to ensure our national security and the safety
of our armed forces."
Faster, More Resilient Missile Warning
Built in about five years, SBIRS GEO-5 is the first military
space satellite built on an LM 2100 Combat Bus™, a version of
Lockheed Martin's modernized, modular LM 2100™ space vehicle with
greatly enhanced resiliency.
The LM 2100 bus is the result of a Lockheed Martin
internally-funded, multi-year modernization initiative. Features
include:
- Greater resiliency and cyber-hardening
- Enhanced spacecraft power, propulsion and electronics
- Common components and procedures to streamline
manufacturing
- Flexible design that reduces the cost to incorporate future,
modernized sensor suites
"We designed our modernized LM2100 bus with our military
customers' changing, more-contested environment, in mind," said
McCormick. "By adding enhanced resiliency features to the LM 2100
we created an initial 'combat bus' for the Space Force for even
greater capability."
SBIRS GEO-5 is a step toward achieving the resilient missile
warning to be provided by SBIRS' follow on, the Next Gen OPIR Block
0 System. SBIRS GEO-6, launching in 2022, and the first three Next
Gen OPIR Block 0 GEO satellites, as well as the future GPS III
Follow On (GPS IIIF) satellites, are also based on the LM 2100
Combat Bus.
Lockheed Martin is proud to be part of the SBIRS team led by the
Production Corps, Geosynchronous Earth Orbit Division, at the U.S.
Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, Los
Angeles Air Force Base, California. Lockheed Martin
Space, Sunnyvale, California,
is the SBIRS prime contractor, with Northrop Grumman, Azusa,
California, as the payload
integrator.
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda,
Maryland, Lockheed Martin
Corporation is a global security and aerospace company that employs
approximately 114,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged
in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and
sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and
services.
Please follow @LMNews on Twitter for the latest
announcements and news across the corporation.
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SOURCE Lockheed Martin