L3Harris announced on May 2 that it got a contract to supply critical sensor technology to Millennium Space Systems for a constellation of eight satellites for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency.
SDA made an announcement on April 30. Boeing’s subsidiary Millennium Space was awarded a $414 million contract by SDA on April 30 to build eight satellites equipped with advanced infrared and optical sensors.
The satellites are for a program called Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (Foo Fighter), which seeks to demonstrate technologies in support of a network of low-orbit satellites being developed by SDA known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
The Foo Fighter satellites will prove out advanced sensor technology to detect and track hypersonic missile threats as part of the Pentagon’s larger missile defense architecture.
L3Harris said that the satellites represent a new program that will track specific threats not addressed by the existing tracking constellation.
The choice of L3Harris as Millennium’s payload supplier isn’t a big surprise given the company’s expertise providing advanced electro-optical infrared sensors and payloads for various U.S. military and intelligence satellites, including SDA’s Tracking Layer program. SDA’s Tracking Layer program is part of the larger Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.Jason Kim, CEO of Millennium Space, said the company has a strong, long-standing relationship hosting L3Harris’s payloads, most recently on the F2 program.
Jason Kim, CEO of Millennium Space, said the company has a strong, long-standing relationship hosting L3Harris’s payloads, most recently on the Wide Field of View program. Jason Kim, CEO of Millennium Space, said the company has a strong, long-standing relationship hosting L3Harris’s payloads, most recently on the Wide Field of View program.We will continue that track record on the F2 program.
L3Harris’s president of Space & Airborne Systems, Ed Zoiss, said, “As global threats continue to rise, these experimental Foo Fighter satellites will test new technologies to fill potential missile defense capability gaps within the Department of Defense portfolio.”
The company will manufacture the infrared payloads in Wilmington, Massachusetts.
