Northrop Grumman has signed a $244-million deal with the US Space Force (USSF) to build advanced relay ground stations in the US and UK to expand the coverage of critical missile warning and tracking satellites.
The ground stations will support the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) program, which seeks to establish satellite constellations that detect and track missile launches and potential attacks.
All stations will have the ability to adapt to satellites’ changes in bandwidth and resiliency requirements, employing Northrop’s flexible modular design used previously in the Relay Ground Station-Asia built in Guam in 2023.
Northrop Grumman operational exploitation systems director Calvin Pennamon said that the company will “prioritize high performance, reliability and mission flexibility for the Next-Gen OPIR program.”
“Our ground systems will enhance communications between Space System Command’s legacy and future Space Based Infrared Systems, providing access to multiple constellations enabling warfighters to maintain a decisive edge against enemy threats,” he added.
The addition of ground stations is part of the US’ push to bolster the USSF’s Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution system.
Space Force Improvements
The USSF’s recent push for modernization seeks to address the country’s need for more robust networks, information technology architecture and command and control systems at the base level to maintain combat readiness.
Earlier this month, the force greenlit operations for the Survivable Endurable Evolution (S2E2), a new ground system that replaced the 1960s-era Mobile Ground System.
The S2E2 processes data from the Space Based Infrared System satellite network and uses a nuclear detonation detection system.
L3Harris also signed a deal in March to modernize the Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System (ATLAS), another space force capability that detects and responds to anti-satellite threats.
