In spite of the traumas that 2020 has brought in terms of the worldwide march of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, GEO-5 pressed smoothly through Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) testing earlier this summer, described as a “major milestone” in readying the satellite for final assembly.
SBIRS GEO-5 completed its TVAC testing in June 2020. In February 2019, ULA was awarded a $441.6 million contract to launch three payloads-including SBIRS GEO-5 and GEO-6-with an expectation that the GEO-5 element would fly atop an Atlas V from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., as early as March 2021. Upon the completion of the CDR, both satellites moved directly into manufacturing and integration. Dennis Bythewood, director of SMC’s Remote Sensor Systems Directorate, praising the “resiliency” of the program. In September 2017, both GEO-5 and GEO-6 wrapped up their Critical Design Review (CDR) at Lockheed Martin’s Sunnyvale, Calif., facility, with Col. In particular, more than a billion dollars’ worth of saving were achieved through “block-buy” contracting practices and the elimination of unnecessary program oversight and reporting, a restructured test program and a streamlined production schedule. At the time of the award, it was noted that the contract formed part of “a thoughtful acquisition strategy aimed at further reducing cost and cycle time”. In the meantime, a $284.4 million contract for the purchase of long-lead items for GEO-5 and GEO-6 were awarded in March 2013, ahead of the definitive $1.86 billion deal between the Air Force and Lockheed Martin in June 2014 to fabricate both satellites. Liftoff of the rarely seen Atlas V 411 variant, headed to space in January 2018 with SBIRS GEO-4. Three further SBIRS GEO satellites were launched in March 2013, January 2017 and January 2018. Its capabilities include highly sophisticated scanning/staring sensors, with improved infrared sensitivity and the scope to provide wide-area (“scanning”) surveillance and small-area (“staring”) observations.
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According to General Accounting Office (GAO) auditors, as reported by Defense Industry Daily in February 2013, the program suffered from “immature technologies, unclear requirements, unstable funding, underestimated software complexity poor oversight”.Īs circumstances transpired, the Air Force’s apparent lack of alternatives for an urgent national requirement to have an advanced infrared surveillance system in orbit to actively monitor ballistic missile launches and nuclear events seems to have prevented SBIRS’ cancelation. The successful launch of SBIRS GEO-1 in May 2011 marked the culmination of a long and tortured development process, which saw costs balloon by over 400 percent from an estimated $4 billion to over $17 billion.
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