The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] an $82 million contract to begin initial work on the fifth and sixth geosynchronous (GEO) satellites in the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning satellite constellation, according to a company statement.
Lockheed Martin spokesman Michael Friedman said recently work on GEO-5 and GEO-6 will begin immediately. Friedman said Lockheed Martin is now engaging its design engineers and key suppliers who will fabricate select long-lead parts and components for the two satellites.
“This initial contract allows us to put select suppliers under contract while their production lines are still ‘hot,’” Friedman said in an email. “This approach enables the lowest possible price for each spacecraft component by avoiding the high costs typically associated with restarting supplier production lines.”
The acquisition of GEO-5 and GEO-6 will come in three phases. Under the first phase, Lockheed Martin will complete non-recurring engineering activities for GEO-5 and GEO-6 in addition to those long-lead parts. Friedman said the non-recurring engineering activities will provide for minor design changes to account for parts obsolescence between the GEO-4 and GEO-5 satellites.
“This work will pave the way for highly efficient and affordable fixed-price satellite production,” Friedman said.
The two subsequent acquisition phases will fund procurement of the remaining long-lead parts, as well as satellite production under a fixed-price contract structure.
Lockheed Martin’s previous SBIRS contracts have included four Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) payloads, four GEO satellites and ground assets to receive, process and disseminate the infrared mission data. Friedman said two HEO payloads and the first GEO satellite, GEO-1, have already been launched. Friedman said the company is completing work on GEO-2, which is scheduled for launch in March. Friedman said GEO-3 and GEO-4 are currently in development and proceeded on schedule for launch in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Lockheed Martin is the SBIRS prime contractor while Northrop Grumman is the HEO payload integrator.
Friedman said payloads HEO-3 and HEO-4 are “well along” in production with delivery to the host satellite scheduled in early 2013 and 2015, respectively.