The U.S. Space Development Agency has awarded L3Harris Technologies Inc. a contract modification in the amount of $7,8 million as an equitable adjustment under the development program to detect and track missiles.
The deal, which was a modification to a previous contract, covers developing and delivering space vehicles to detect and track hypersonic vehicles from low Earth orbit.
Hypersonic weapons currently are a reason for concern, especially after the two Chinese tests in January and August 2014.
Hypersonic missiles — specifically hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles — are a new class of threat because they are capable both of maneuvering and of flying faster than 5,000 kilometers per hour. These features enable such missiles to penetrate most missile defenses and to further compress the timelines for a response by a nation under attack.
The program’s objective is to detect and track traditional and emerging missile threats using infrared sensors and advanced processing capability.
Melbourne-based L3Harris Technologies received the tracking layer prototype award in 2020 to develop and integrate an end-to-end satellite system under a $193 million firm fixed-price contract. Total period of performance runs through 2025 and covers four space vehicle launches.