Australia looks towards space with force restructure, investment and training
Australia is looking to improve its presence in space with a focus on communications and creating a dedicated segment of its defence forces committed to the domain.
Rendering of the tracking layer satellite being developed by L3Harris for the Space Development Agency. (Image: L3Harris)
L3Harris Technologies and Moog Engineering have received a $7.87 million contract for supplemental work with the Space Development Agency (SDA) on satellites to track hypersonic missiles.
The two companies will support work to ‘develop and deliver space vehicles to detect and track hypersonic vehicles from low Earth orbit [LEO]’, the DoD announced on 14 December.
Approximately 88% of the supplemental effort will be performed by L3Harris.
L3Harris and SpaceX each received contracts in October 2020 to design and develop four missile warning satellites apiece (these awards were confirmed in January 2021 after the unsuccessful bidders lost an appeal).
The eight satellites will comprise the initial tracking layer of the National Defense Space Architecture, which will eventually consist of hundreds of LEO satellites.
The SDA in September 2021 completed a preliminary design review of L3Harris-designed satellites; a critical design review is now in progress.
L3Harris is also developing a Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) prototype under a $121 million contract awarded by the Missile Defense Agency in January 2021.
US defence planners aim for the L3Harris/SpaceX satellites to detect and track hypersonic missiles before the HBTSS satellites take over with targeting data.
Australia is looking to improve its presence in space with a focus on communications and creating a dedicated segment of its defence forces committed to the domain.
The Portuguese company’s naval communications system is in service across more than a dozen countries. It has turned to its home nation for support in developing a new vehicle based C2 system.
The Vision4ce Deep Embedded Feature Tracking (DEFT) technology software is designed to process video and images by blending traditional computer vision with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to present actionable information from complex environments.
Persistent Systems has been cleared by National Security Agency (NSA) to transmit sensitive data on commercial networks. The devices are added to the NSA’s Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) component list which also includes other companies’ products providing the same security.
The release of the UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) has been long promised as mid-year. It is possible it could be as early as 2 June although the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) continues to play its cards close to its chest.
Intelsat outlines how its multi-orbit SATCOM architecture is enhancing connectivity and resilience for special operations forces operating in degraded and contested environments.