Lockheed Martin Receives $23 Million Contract To Upgrade B-2 Bomber Satellite Communications System

Lockheed Martin has received a $23 million contract from Northrop Grumman to support the upgrade of satellite communications systems used aboard the U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bomber, Lockheed Martin announced Aug. 7.

Lockheed Martin will replace the B-2’s current flight management computers with a subsystem combining legacy B-2 avionics functions with additional processing capabilities to support the aircraft’s Extremely High Frequency (EHF) satcom system. The EHF satcom provides the bomber’s aircrew with a beyond-line-of-sight, assured-connectivity capability that ensures compatibility with current and future EHF communication satellite architectures, and allows the B-2 to connect to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Global Information Grid (GIG).

In an unrelated announcement, Lockheed Martin told ICO of a six-week launch postponement. On Aug. 6, Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services (LMCLS) bumped the ICO launch slot from between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30, 2007 to Dec. 15 and Jan. 15, 2008, expecting the range date for Jan. 7 or Jan. 8, 2008.Lockheed Martin reportedly indicated that the reason for the short postponement was due to subcontractor United Launch Alliance’s revising its launch manifest due to a minor Atlas launch anomaly investigation.