The contract is to support space-based sensor development programme to detect and track missiles.
The U.S. Missile Defence Agency has awarded L3Harris Technologies a $121m contract to build space flight hardware to demonstrate the companys solution for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) programme, according to L3Harris.
Speaking about the contract, Ed Zoiss, President, L3Harris Space and Airborne Systems said: Our near-peer adversaries are making rapid advancements in missile technologies, posing a threat to our forward-deployed forces, allies and the nation. L3Harris is leveraging our long-standing expertise in infrared remote sensing, advanced processing and communications, in addition to our recent wins in responsive space missions, to enable the Missile Defence Agency to quickly field significantly more capable and cost-effective mission solutions to address these threats.
HBTSS is one of several proposed missions within the Department of Defences next-generation proliferated low-Earth orbit space architecture. The programmes objective is to detect and track traditional and emerging missile threats using infrared sensors and advanced processing capability.
L3Harris has also been selected for two other layers of the missile warning and defence architecture. In December 2020, the Space Development Agency selected L3Harris to build and launch four space vehicles to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles for launch in 2022. In April 2019, the U.S. Air Force selected L3Harris to design prototype payload and mission concepts for what has evolved into the U.S. Space Forces medium-Earth orbit track custody demonstration. The contract is to support space-based sensor development programme to detect and track missiles
