Lockheed gets $220 million for space radar development

Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $220 million contract from the Air Force to continue development of the Space-Based Radar program, the company said.

The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded the 24-month study contract for Lockheed Martin to continue the definition of the program's system requirements and evaluate alternative design concepts for the system architecture. During the development phase, Lockheed Martin will develop and evaluate multiple candidate architectures, including the integration of Space-Based Radar with other existing and planned surveillance systems.

Space-Based Radar is a transformational system being developed for the Defense Department to provide global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the military and intelligence community. It will include a constellation of spacecraft that can monitor the entire Earth's surface.

"Our team?is already working to demonstrate the maturity of our technologies and to define a system that will give our warfighters, our allies and the national intelligence community a critical edge in gathering information on the activities of our adversaries," said Don DeGryse, vice president of the Space Based Radar program at Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

Final selection of the prime contractor for the multi-billion dollar program will be made in 2006, with initial launch scheduled for 2012.

Lockheed Martin's team includes Cisco Systems Inc., General Dynamics Corp., Harris Corp., Honeywell Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp.