Northrop to Begin Development of Space Force’s North Pole Satcom Ground Component

Northrop Grumman has completed the delta critical design review phase of a U.S. Space Force program that aims to modernize ground infrastructure for military satellite communications in the North Polar region.

The company said Tuesday it can now start efforts to develop, integrate and test the Enhanced Polar System Recapitalization Control and Planning Segment.

The Space and Missile Systems Center awarded Northrop a $428.8M contract in February 2018 to build extremely high-frequency eXtended Data Rate for the EPS-R program and another $87M contract in May 2019 to develop CAPS, which will provide a single software baseline for EPS/EPS-R payload mission planning functions.

EPS-R is designed to protect North Pole satcom coverage while the military awaits for the availability of new Protected Tactical and Evolved Strategic SATCOM systems.