Lockheed Martin team successfully completes major design review for TSAT program

SUNNYVALE, Calif., -- A Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT]/Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) team has successfully completed a key design review of the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) Space Segment, signaling the team’s readiness to proceed with the next development phase of the program. TSAT will provide thousands of users with wideband, highly mobile, beyond line-of-sight protected communications to support network-centric operations for the future battlefield.

Nearly 300 government representatives from the U.S. Air Force Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing and user communities, including representatives from all services within the Department of Defense, recently completed a three-day Space Segment Design Review (SSDR) at Lockheed Martin Space Systems facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif.

During the review, the team detailed its planned architecture and design approach for TSAT, which will employ high-speed optical communications, Internet Protocol network routing, and communications-on-the-move technologies to deliver a dramatic increase in connectivity, speed, and mobility for the warfighter.

A highlight of the review was an extensive exhibit hall that featured a number of demonstrations and exhibits that summarized technology risk reduction efforts and the team’s systems engineering and integration expertise that is being applied to TSAT. An integrated end-to-end systems and payload testbed demonstrated critical communications-on-the-move and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

“We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this important review,” said Joanne Maguire, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems. “Our TSAT solution builds upon technologies we’ve pioneered and matured to provide significantly improved, flexible communications for the warfighter. Our team is poised to help our customer achieve mission success on this vitally important program.”

TSAT represents the next step toward transitioning the Department of Defense wideband and protected communications satellite architecture into a single network comprising multiple satellite, ground, and user segment components. The system ultimately will replace the Milstar and Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) programs and provide the Global Information Grid network extension to mobile warfighters, sensors, weapons, and command, control, and communications nodes located on unmanned aerial vehicles, piloted aircraft, on the ground, in the air, at sea or in space.

“The successful space segment design review represents a culmination of a tremendous effort in risk reduction and system design by a highly experienced MILSATCOM team, including the government and industry participants,” said Alexis Livanos, president, Northrop Grumman Space Technology. “TSAT will serve the growing needs for connections and capacity to military forces deployed on a global basis and we look forward to entering the next phase of this important program.”

The Lockheed Martin / Northrop Grumman TSAT space segment team is currently working under a $514 million contract for the Risk Reduction and System Definition phase. This effort will culminate with a multi-billion dollar development contract to be awarded to a single contractor in late 2007.

The Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing, located at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the TSAT contract manager and lead agency for ensuring the capabilities of this system are made available to the warfighter.