The first Lockheed Martin– [LMT] built Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous (GEO-1) satellite is exceeding performance expectations and is on schedule to achieve operational certification in the fall of 2012, the company said recently.
Within two months after launching May 7, 2011, SBIRS, an Air Force program, began sharing initial GEO-1 satellite data, the company said in a statement. It detected targets 25 percent dimmer than required with a greater level of intensity than intended. The sensor’s pointing accuracy was also more precise than originally required, the company said in a statement.
GEO-1 is still performing these key performance measures, a Lockheed Martin spokesman said recently in an email.
Interim mission performance trends indicate GEO-1 already demonstrates the ability to meet more than 90 percent of Air Force Space Command’s (AFSPC) performance requirements for operational use and remaining performance requirements are on track to be completed well before the satellite is fully certified for operations by U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) later in the fall, the company said.
The SBIRS architecture features GEO satellites, payloads in highly elliptical orbit (HEO) and associated ground hardware and software. Lockheed Martin’s SBIRS contracts include four HEO payloads, four GEO satellites and ground assets to command the spacecraft and receive, process and disseminate the infrared mission data. Two HEO payloads and the first geosynchronous (GEO-1) satellite have already been launched, the company said.
SBIRS GEO-1 is the most technologically advanced military infrared satellite ever developed and will enhance early warning of missile launches around the globe, support the nation’s ballistic missile defense system, greatly expand technical intelligence gathering capability and bolster situational awareness for warfighters on the battlefield, the company said.
Jeff Smith, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s overhead persistent infrared mission area, said in a phone interview the GEO-3 payload will be delivered to the Air Force in October 2013 and the GEO-4 payload will be delivered around roughly mid-2014.
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for SBIRS while Northrop Grumman [NOC] is the payload integrator.