Northrop Grumman was one month ahead of its deadline for completing the preliminary design review of a relay ground station to support the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution system.
PDR completion for Relay Ground Station-Asia marks a milestone in Northrop’s timeline for modernizing legacy and next-generation missile warning systems for the U.S. Space Force, the company said Thursday.
The FORGE program aims to establish a ground system capable of processing and controlling data from the missile-warning satellite constellation of the Space-Based Infrared System. FORGE requires relay ground stations that can handle changing bandwidth and network availability in new and existing satellites.
Northrop aims to complete the RGS-A for deployment to Guam by late 2025 under a $99.6 million contract with the U.S. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific.
NIWC Pacific will build six terminal antennas to support the U.S. Space Force’s ground-based SBIRS infrastructure.
“The preliminary design review exceeded our customers’ expectations and is the next step in delivering much-needed new capabilities to the Pacific region,” said Aaron Dann, vice president of strategic force programs at Northrop.