Under the award, Lockheed Martin will supply missile warning, tracking and defence space vehicles designed to generate fire–control–quality tracks for operational use. Once deployed, the satellites are intended to turn these tracks into actionable engagements.
The contract builds on Lockheed Martin’s earlier Tranche 2 Tracking Layer award and is intended to support global, persistent detection and tracking of conventional and advanced missile threats, including hypersonic systems. The company said its long-term investment in secure networks, test assets and a dedicated small satellite production centre has helped reduce development risk and accelerate production timelines.
“Lockheed Martin’s ongoing investments and evolving practices demonstrate our commitment to supporting the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture,” said Joe Rickers, vice president of Transport, Tracking and Warning at Lockheed Martin. “These innovative approaches position Lockheed Martin to meet the warfighter’s urgent need for a proliferated missile defense constellation.”
The Tranche 3 Tracking Layer programme will be supported by a maturing supply chain, including satellite buses produced by Terran Orbital, with manufacturing carried out at Lockheed Martin’s SmallSat Processing & Delivery Center in Colorado. With this award, Lockheed Martin is now under contract with the Space Development Agency for 124 space vehicles across the Tracking and Transport Layer programmes.
In October, the company launched 21 Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites, with a further 21 currently in production. These efforts form part of Lockheed Martin’s broader support for the agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
