The two teams will receive $275 million each from the Air Force to design and develop configurations for the SBIRS series of spacecraft during the next three years. Ultimately, one team will be selected to build and fly the operational constellation, which is to consist of as few as 12 and as many as 32 spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
The entire SBIRS constellations will consist of satellites in three orbital planes: low, high, and geostationary orbits, providing U.S. military forces with warnings of missile launches and other rocket attacks.
The SBIRS high award went to Lockheed in 1996, beating out a TRW team at the time. In the low constellation award, the TRW team includes radar and other systems provided by Raytheon.
Northrop Grumman is part of the competing Spectrum Astro team. Spectrum, based in Gilbert, Arizona, inserted itself into the SBIRS competition back in 1998 when it decided to enter the process after TRW and Lockheed Martin were in the study phase.
Both of the larger aerospace companies have extensive histories in military space contracts. TRW has built and flown the previous generation of military warning satellites, the Defense Support Program (DSP), under Air Force contracts for more than 25 years. The DSP spacecraft have been launched by Lockheed Martin Titan boosters and also by Space Shuttles.
Spectrum Astro is one of the smaller and younger satellite builders in the U.S. and has shaken up the competition for NASA and defense-related space business, normally framed by the larger, established aerospace builders.
The Air Force manages the SBIRS project from the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Base in California. The total value of the SBIRS low project, including purchases of launch services and mission operations, could exceed $12 billion.
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