The Space Development Agency (SDA) awarded both Raytheon Technologies [RTX] and CesiumAstro contracts announced Thursday related to its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) network.
Raytheon Technologies received an award valued at more than $250 million to deliver a seven-vehicle missile tracking satellite constellation, as well as support launch and ground operations. The Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation will become the fifth plane of satellites providing missile warning and tracking for the Department of Defense.
The seven-vehicle satellite constellation will feature Raytheon’s Wide Field of View overhead persistent infrared sensor, and technology from two of Raytheon’s previous acquisitions — Blue Canyon Technologies‘ Saturn-class microsatellite bus, and Seakr Engineering‘s electronics payload.
“Developing a resilient and affordable proliferated satellite constellation in Low-Earth Orbit will improve our ability to track emerging threats like hypersonic missiles,” said Dave Broadbent, president of Space & C2 at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “Continuing to develop this architecture with SDA and our industry partners will be a high priority for us in the coming months.”
Separately, CesiumAstro announced an SDA award to advance the company’s multi-beam L-band active electronically scanned array antenna to support U.S. and allied military forces. The antenna is Link-16 compatible. CesiumAstro did not disclose terms of the contract.
CesiumAstro said the flat panel antenna can support a variety of missions and fulfill the SDA’s Transport Layer mission requirements. It is designed to use multiple beams to connect satellites to many dispersed users simultaneously. It is also software-defined to be reprogrammable to adjust to requirements.
“This award spotlights the upcoming advancements in national security made possible by software-defined active phased array antennas,” said Shey Sabripour, founder and CEO of CesiumAstro. “Providing SDA with a multi-beam array increases architecture flexibility and capacity for enhanced theater coverage.”