Angeline Leishman
A Northrop Grumman–Ball Aerospace team will build infrared sensor payloads for the U.S. Space Force’s future polar-orbiting missile warning satellites.
The partners will work on sensors for two Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar satellites that the military would use to detect and track infrared heat signatures of ballistic and hypersonic projectiles, Northrop said Tuesday.
They will also conduct systems engineering, flight hardware and ground system design and development and risk reduction efforts to prepare the payloads for a critical design review in the future.
According to a report, the team was competing with Raytheon Technologies to secure the NGP payload development work.
“Our team’s solution for NGP will assure continuous coverage of the northern hemisphere – especially the critical Arctic region – to protect against incoming threats,” said Sarah Willoughby, vice president of overhead persistent infrared and geospatial systems at Northrop.
The two polar satellites are being built by Northrop as part of its $2.37 billion contract with the Space Force awarded in 2020.
