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Partnering with the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Northrop Grumman has been selected as one of four Other Transaction Authority awards for the Phase IIa Prototype Payload Design Demonstration for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) program.
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The 12-month HBTSS Phase IIa will demonstrate the payload design for a proposed satellite constellation to detect and track hypersonic and advanced missile threats.
Phase IIa retires technical risk through the demonstration of critical technologies required to track advanced weapons like hypersonic missiles from space.
The award continues Northrop Grumman’s longstanding partnership with the MDA and broader space and missile defence community on solving critical national security challenges.
Northrop Grumman will demonstrate its agile and affordable approach to producing space-based sensors in large quantities for proliferated, global operations.
Kenneth Todorov, vice president, missile defense solutions, Northrop Grumman, welcomed the announcement, saying, "We are a leading technology company that has for decades been supporting the space and missile defence missions of our government customers. HBTSS is an important undertaking that allows us to see advanced threats like hypersonic missiles in ways we haven’t been able to before. If you can see the threats, you can take them out."
Northrop Grumman is building Phase IIa upon the concepts developed in Phase I. Work will be performed at various company locations in the US.
Todorov added, "Through the HBTSS program, we’re leveraging our broad base of talent and technology to develop an affordable and extensible solution for this critical component of our nation’s missile defence system."
HBTSS builds on the long-standing success of Northrop Grumman's Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) satellites built for the US MDA.
STSS has demonstrated a capacity to track ballistic missiles through all phases of flight and in 2013 demonstrated the 'launch on remote' capability, which significantly expands the defended area of a US Navy Aegis cruiser.
Bob Mehltretter, vice president, military and civil space, Northrop Grumman, explained the importance of such capabilities: "STSS proved that space-based assets could significantly improve our nation’s missile defence capability and paved the way for future systems. Being able to track missiles from low-Earth orbit allows threats to be engaged earlier in the process using existing interceptors.
Northrop Grumman's end-to-end, multi-domain approach to hypersonic and ballistic missile defence spans technologies in multiple warfighting domains from sea to space, as well as the electromagnetic and cyber environments.
Northrop Grumman is a global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, space, strike, and logistics and modernisation to customers worldwide.
