[Satellite TODAY 09-02-10] The U.S. Department of Defense issued a $219.4 million contract to Honeywell International to supply systems, maintenance engineering and other services for an Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) enhancement, according to documents released by the Pentagon.
    The network upgrades will allow AFSCN to provide expanded tracking, telemetry and command, operation, control, and maintenance capabilities supporting military and non-military satellites in the network.
    This is the second year in a row that the U.S. military has selected Honeywell for AFSCN work. In June 2009, the company was awarded a three-year, $61 million contract to complete modernization of AFSCN’s Electronic Schedule Dissemination (ESD) system by 2011. The ESD award was the largest single development program awarded under the military’s Satellite Control Network program, for which Honeywell has served as prime contractor for more than seven years.
    “The current system relies on an obsolete software/hardware platform that requires centralized intake with centralized control for AFSCN users. Our services will permit new user self-service capabilities that break the paradigm of a centralized execution system, which allows users to independently modify a very complex schedule in a synchronized fashion,” Honeywell President Vince Trim said in a statement.
    AFSCN provides prelaunch simulation, launch support and early orbit support while satellites are in initial or transfer orbits and require maneuvering to their final orbit, providing tracking data to help maintain the catalog of space objects.
    The network was activated in 1959 to support the U.S. government’s Corona/Discoverer program. The main operations control center, which functions as a central command and control node for the remote tracking stations established around the world, is located at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colo.

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