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 The contract, announced in the Pentagon's daily digest of major
contract awards, runs through Sept. 30, 2022.
It funds completion of the fifth and sixth satellites in the SBIRS
system, and includes performance incentives and options for acoustic
testing, launch operations an early on-orbit testing, the Pentagon
said.
U.S. Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center said
the contract award saved over $1 billion as a result of a block-buy
contracting approach and production and management efficiencies.
"We eliminated unnecessary layers of program oversight and contract
reporting, restructured our test program and streamlined the
production schedules," Colonel Mike Guetlein, production program
manager, said in a statement.
The contract comes on top of advanced procurement funding awarded to
Lockheed in 2012 and 2013 to start buying parts that take a long
time to order. It will also fund completion of the associated ground
operations and processing updates.
SBIRS is a new U.S. strategic missile warning system that replaced
the 1970s Defense Support Program satellites. It provides continuous
early warning of ballistic missile launches and other infrared
surveillance to U.S. leaders.
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It includes a mix of satellites in geostationary (GEO) orbit,
sensors on other satellites in highly elliptical orbit, and ground
hardware and software. The first two GEO satellites started
operations in 2013. The third GEO satellite is in testing and the
fourth is in final assembly, Lockheed said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Andre Grenon and Stephen
Coates)
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