After working closely with the U.S. Air Force for eight months, the TRW/Raytheon Space-Based Infrared System Low (SBIRS Low) team completed the first milestone in the program definition risk reduction (PDRR) contract for the low-Earth orbiting component of the nation’s next-generation early missile warning system.
This first milestone, known as Requirements Review 1 (RR1), provides a basis for defining Ballistic Missile Defense support requirements as well as key performance parameters for technical intelligence. In conducting this task, the TRW/Raytheon team provided the Air Force with cost, performance and system architecture options to arrive at an optimal balance between mission utility and cost.
“Our first milestone results provide system architecture options that will allow our customer to meaningfully address system user needs and national security considerations,” said Patrick Caruana, SBIRS Low vice president and program manager, TRW Space & Electronics Group. “Our team possesses a unique depth and breadth of experience that has allowed us to hit the ground running and provide the Air Force with mature analysis. We’re off to a great start.”
The team is scheduled to meet its second milestone, Inherent Capabilities Assessment (ICA), this summer. At ICA, the team will analyze requirements, cost and performance options for SBIRS Low’s battlespace characterization mission and additional technical intelligence mission capabilities.
The TRW/Raytheon team was awarded the 38-month PDRR contract last August to define requirements and complete conceptual designs for an operational SBIRS Low system. As part of PDRR, the team will perform comprehensive ground demonstrations designed to reduce the risk and verify system performance.
The TRW/Raytheon team, which includes Aerojet, Motorola, Agilent, Honeywell, Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Sparta and PRA, is applying years of collective corporate expertise on missile warning programs, infrared sensors and ground systems to the development of SBIRS Low.
SBIRS Low is the low-Earth orbiting component of the SBIRS system-of-systems. Comprised of satellites in geosynchronous orbits, sensors hosted on satellites in highly elliptical orbit and ground data processing and control systems, SBIRS brings surveillance capabilities to bear against evolving threats.
