Lockheed Martin to Collaborate With U.S. Army to Improve Space-Enabled Defense Systems

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Lockheed Martin signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Aviation and Missile Center (AvMC) to advance Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) connectivity. Under this CRADA, Lockheed Martin and AvMC will jointly develop and demonstrate space-enabled defense systems. 

What It Means: Through this CRADA, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Army will conduct design, development, integration, and test risk reduction activities utilizing AvMC’s Redstone Arsenal, Alabama-based System Integration Lab (SIL) to identify and develop concepts of operations for linking ground-based platforms to the space domain.

"Lockheed Martin brings a legacy of experience in supporting our tactical warfighters, and we recognize the importance of providing them with next generation capabilities,” said John Schierling, Lockheed Martin director for Tactical Space Programs. “Our collaboration with AvMC will assist in developing a more effective, survivable and affordable battlefield-connected 21st century security technology for our government customers and international allies by connecting platforms with space assets, helping deter future threats.”

What Will Be Tested: The team will investigate capabilities that improve satellite communications (SATCOM) to defense systems, identify overlapping capabilities that can facilitate connectivity, look for capability gaps, conduct hardware-in-the-loop tests, test the connectivity between platforms at various speeds, explore ancillary use of communications systems and more.

Where and When: As work begins, the team will leverage the SIL for its integration, test and analysis tools to support evolving prototypes. The SIL’s advanced modeling and simulation tool suite will enable the team to accelerate the delivery of experimental prototypes and align technical performers across government agencies and industry.