A team from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman completed a key design review of the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) Space Segment, signaling readiness to proceed with the next development phase of the program, Lockheed Martin announced May 7.

TSAT is designed to provide thousands of users with wideband, highly mobile, beyond line-of-sight protected communications to support network-centric operations for the future battlefield. The system represents the next step toward transitioning the U.S. Department of Defense’s wideband and protected communications satellite architecture into a single network comprising multiple satellite, ground, and user segment components.

The Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman TSAT space segment team is working under a $514 million contract for the Risk Reduction and System Definition phase, to culminate with a multi-billion dollar development contract to be awarded to a single contractor in late 2007.