Lockheed Martin awarded Northrop Grumman a $422 million contract to produce sensor payloads for the fifth and sixth Space Based Infrared System missile warning satellites, according to a Northrop Grumman release. “We are committed to reducing cost and payload development cycle times, while still providing exceptional data to our military and intelligence stake holder,” said Anne Ostroff, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of the military/civil space and ground business area. The fifth and sixth geosynchronous Earth orbit satellites, known as GEO-5 and GEO-6, will replenish the constellation when the first two SBIRS spacecraft reach the end of their service lives. Northrop Grumman also built the payloads for previous GEO satellites.
Three B-1B Lancers from the 7th Bomb Wing flew over the Indo-Pacific alongside F-16s from the Japanese Air Self Defense Force recently, as part of a joint large force exercise. The mission began and ended in the continental U.S., as the bombers flew 31 hours and landed Jan. 11.