Northrop Grumman to carry out HBTSS work

Northrop Grumman has received a place on the Phase IIa Prototype Payload Design and Signal-chain Processing Demonstration of the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) programme.

The company was selected as one of four Other Transaction Authority awards for the work.

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 such as hypersonic missiles from space.

Northrop Grumman will build Phase IIa upon the concepts developed in Phase I, in order to develop an affordable and extensible solution for this component of the missile defence system.

Kenneth Todorov, vice president, Missile Defense Solutions, Northrop Grumman, said: ‘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.’