Boeing’s [BA] Millennium Space Systems on Monday said it had completed the critical design review (CDR) for a missile defense fire control program managed by the Space Development Agency (SDA).
The successful CDR mean the SDA’s Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (FOO Fighter) program is transitioning to production.
L3Harris Technologies [LHX] is developing the electro-optical and infrared sensor payloads for Millennium’s eight satellites that will be launched into a prototype constellation to assess fire control capability for the global detection, warning, and tracking of advanced missile threats, including hypersonics.
L3Harris also said it completed the production readiness review that showcased its plans to produce its infrared sensor payloads quickly. The satellites will be launched into low Earth orbit.
“This work alongside SDA’s tracking layer for Tranche 0, Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 will progress on-orbit advanced space capabilities to detect, track and engage in order to protect the nation from missile attacks, at a fraction of the cost of legacy space architectures,” Ed Zoiss, president of L3Harris’ Space and Airborne Systems segment, said in a statement. “The path forward to fully enabling a space-based Golden Dome for America starts with proliferation and precision fire-control sensing.”
The CDR was completed 10 months after Millennium received authorization to proceed. The company won the $414 million FOO Fighter contract last April (
Defense Daily, April 30, 2024).