A rendering of the Space Development Agency constellation providing missile warning and tracking. Photo: Raytheon Technologies

The Space Development Agency (SDA) awarded both Raytheon Technologies and CesiumAstro contracts announced Thursday related to its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) network. 

Raytheon Technologies received an award valued at more than $250 million to deliver a seven-vehicle missile tracking satellite constellation, as well as support launch and ground operations. The Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation will become the fifth plane of satellites providing missile warning and tracking for the Department of Defense. 

The seven-vehicle satellite constellation will feature Raytheon’s Wide Field of View overhead persistent infrared sensor, and technology from two of Raytheon’s previous acquisitions — Blue Canyon Technologies‘ Saturn-class microsatellite bus, and Seakr Engineering‘s electronics payload. 

“Developing a resilient and affordable proliferated satellite constellation in Low-Earth Orbit will improve our ability to track emerging threats like hypersonic missiles,” said Dave Broadbent, president of Space & C2 at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “Continuing to develop this architecture with SDA and our industry partners will be a high priority for us in the coming months.”

Separately, CesiumAstro announced an SDA award to advance the company’s multi-beam L-band active electronically scanned array antenna to support U.S. and allied military forces. The antenna is Link-16 compatible. CesiumAstro did not disclose terms of the contract. 

CesiumAstro said the flat panel antenna can support a variety of missions and fulfill the SDA’s Transport Layer mission requirements. It is designed to use multiple beams to connect satellites to many dispersed users simultaneously. It is also software-defined to be reprogrammable to adjust to requirements.   

“This award spotlights the upcoming advancements in national security made possible by software-defined active phased array antennas,” said Shey Sabripour, founder and CEO of CesiumAstro. “Providing SDA with a multi-beam array increases architecture flexibility and capacity for enhanced theater coverage.”