Honeywell to build Air Force portable tracking station

Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. will build a portable satellite tracking station for the Air Force under a firm fixed-price contract worth $29.7 million.

This award calls for Honeywell to design and build the Transportable Remote Tracking Station for the Satellite Contact Network.

The unit will be designed to operate in three modes: as a stand-alone tracking station that can completely replace a fixed site tracking station, as a stand-alone antenna subsystem that can replace a fixed site's antenna, and as a stand-alone computer electronics subsystem that can replace a fixed site's computer electronics suite.

This ability to split the transportable station into separate, stand-alone parts will provide the flexibility needed to fix specific problems at several satellite tracking sites simultaneously, Air Force officials said. The unit will also provide extra satellite communications support in global "hot spots" without having to build costly permanent satellite tracking sites, they added.

Space and Missile Systems Center Satellite Control Network Group/PK, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity.

Honeywell Technology Solutions, of Colorado Springs, Colo., is a unit of Honeywell International Inc. The parent company ranks No. 27 on Washington Technology's 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.