USAF awards satellite support contract

The US Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a contract worth over $200 M to support the DSP constellation of satellites. Northrop-Grumman will make sure the satellites are working and provide analysis of the data they collect. The company manufactured the infra-red sensors installed on them. DSP primary mission is to detect the launch of missiles and rockets. They have been used for over thirty years and will eventually be replaced by the SBIRS system.

See the press release at MarketWatch.com.

Solid quarter for Orbital

October 16, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Earnings, Orbital Systems, S&T, Satellites, development program, space 

Orbital reported their third quarter results today. Revenues were up slightly while earnings were down. The company did report strong bookings and their back log is significant at over $2 B. The company saw increased activity in the launch vehicle and advanced space programs. There was a decline in satellites and space services. Orbital provides a variety of space related services to US DoD, Department of Energy and NASA.

See the full press release at MarketWatch.com.

GPS III contract award expected by the 16th

According to this article the Air Force is expected to award the GPS III contract this week following a successful DAB a few weeks ago. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are in the running, and some are inevitably expecting a protest by the loser. Lockheed Martin won most of the GPS II work and Boeing did some of the original satellites. One hopes that the USAF acquisition people have their ducks in a row on this one as there last two major awards have been protested, and one, CSAR-X, successfully.