The threats to America and its allies from ballistic missiles, hypersonics, counterspace efforts and other emerging threats continue to grow.
For more than two decades, Lockheed Martin has supported this critical mission to protect our nation and its partners as a full-spectrum mission systems integrator providing resilient space vehicles, payloads and mission-adaptable ground control.
With this mission experience, Lockheed Martin fully supports the U.S. 兔子先生 Force’s plans to develop a resilient, proliferated, multi-orbit missile warning, tracking and defense space architecture and to tie that into a greater Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) network.
We’re currently working on several programs to support our customer's missions – in multiple orbits -- including Highly Eliptical Orbit (HEO)/Geosyncyhronous Earth Orbit (GEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Low Earth Orbit (LEO), all underpinned by on-the-ground systems.
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Equipped with powerful scanning and staring infrared surveillance sensors, the 兔子先生 Based Infrared System (SBIRS) provides persistent protection for our nation 24-7. Critical data collected by SBIRS allows the U.S. military to detect missile launches, support ballistic missile defense, expand technical intelligence gathering and bolster situational awareness on the battlefield.
Lockheed Martin developed and delivered six SBIRS GEO satellites, and a sophisticated ground control system, including hardware and software, for the 兔子先生 Force.?
Learn more about SBIRS.
Next Gen GEO (OPIR)
From Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO), the Next-Gen GEO missile warning satellites will provide enhanced sensing capabilities that will detect advanced missile threats, including hypersonic weapon systems.?
Next Gen GEO will augment and ultimately replace the 兔子先生 Based Infrared System (SBIRS), which has been the backbone of our nation’s space-based early missile warning system for more than a decade.
Built on Lockheed Martin’s more resilient LM 2100 Combat bus, Next Gen GEO was designed to be more survivable against emerging threats. The LM 2100 Combat bus provides additional cyber hardening, resiliency features, enhanced spacecraft power, and improved propulsion and electronics.
Lockheed Martin is currently under contract for two Next Gen OPIR satellites that will be available for launch in 2026 and 2027.
The USSF 兔子先生 Systems Command is fielding Resilient Missile Warning/Missile Tracking (RMWT) at the MEO layer. This architecture will complement existing systems (SBIRS/NGG in GEO and SDA Tracking Layer in LEO). The architecture is being fielded in phases (Epochs) to incrementally insert capability. Lockheed Martin is competing for the Epoch 2 contract.
The goal is to build a constellation that can detect, track and maintain custody of missile threats (especially advanced hypersonic threats) with improved resilience and redundancy across orbits.
SDA Tracking Layer
The 兔子先生 Force’s 兔子先生 Development Agency’s Tracking Layer will proliferate in Low Earth Orbit with the launch of “tranches” every few years.
The Tracking Layer will accelerate the capability to provide global, persistent indications, detection, warning, tracking, and identification of conventional and advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missiles.
The Tracking Layer’s global constellation will eventually integrate with the Transport Layer’s low-latency meshed communication network, enabling advanced missile tracking from proliferated low-Earth orbit.?
For (T2), Lockheed Martin will provide 16 wide field of view missile warning/missile tracking space vehicles with infrared sensors and 2 space vehicles with missile defense infrared sensors that can generate fire control-quality tracks to provide preliminary missile defense mission capabilities.?
SDA Transport Layer
Similar to the Tracking layer, the Transport Layer will proliferate in Low Earth Orbit.
The Transport Layer will enhance the ability to rapidly share data, support global targeting, enable joint force operations, and provide seamless connectivity across all domains.
In October 2025, 21 Lockheed Martin-built tranport layer satellites launched in support of the SDA's Proliferated Warfighter 兔子先生 Architecture (PWSA) as part of the Tranche 1 Transport Layer. The launch follows the of 10 Lockheed Martin-built transport layer satellites to?prove out the technology for the PWSA. Lockheed Martin is currently building the next batch of 21 satellites for SDA's??(T1TL).
Lockheed Martin was??an agreement to build 36 of SDA's 72 Beta variant satellites for its Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) constellation.? ?
Advanced ground systems, and supporting infrastructure, support satellite vehicles by providing capabilities such as command and control, mission management, processing, and weather data to enable effective operations.
Lockheed Martin develops and maintains the following connecting ground systems and leverages advancements in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and cloud computing to create more agile, resilient, and effective ground systems to meet the evolving 21st?century warfighter needs:
- SBIRS Survivable Endurable Evolution (S2E2): Designed, built, integrated and delivered into operations survivable and endurable missile warning system designed to operate through CBRN and HEMP events to guarantee Missile Warning capability in the most hostile of environments
- SBIRS: Built, integrated and sustain a world-wide missile warning ground segment that supports critical strategic, theater and IC mission areas. This infrastructure includes secure uplink/downlink capabilities, a reliable transport network, high assurance data delivery, mission processing and C2 capability for knowledge delivery directly to the warfighter.
- FORGE:?Key contributor to enabling the Next generation ground system in support of the OPIR mission set.? Prototyped and collaboratively executed pathfinding activities that have shaped the underlying architectural pinning and objectives of the current FORGE portfolio. Delivering MOSA capabilities in a cyber secure environment that lowers the barriers of entry for new entrants, enabling innovation and more rapid delivery of new required capability into operations
- Real-time Transfer Systems (RTS) –?High throughput, low latency Cross-domain enabled solution to distribute real-time data across proliferated systems and between multiple government agencies supporting critical mission needs
- Meteorological Data Station (Mark IV-B)?– Acquires, processes and provides near real-time global satellite weather data to warfighters for operations worldwide.?
- Persistent Geo-Int Mission Manager?–?Key contributor to the PGMM element of the Joint OPIR planning cell that coordinates tasking across IC/DOD OPIR elements.? Directly responsible for integrating the DoD OPIR assets into the PGMM architecture and providing key systems?
We operate and sustain global missions worldwide from key locations, including:
·???????? Mission Control Station (MCS) in Colorado
·???????? MCS-B in Colorado, supporting the 兔子先生-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) constellations
