Pentagon, Leonardo DRS reach deal on IR payloads for PWSA

A SpaceX Falcon 9 loaded with a Tranche 0 payload variant for the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) sits on the launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (Space Development Agency)

The Pentagon's Space Development Agency (SDA) has reached a deal with Leonardo DRS to have the company provide infrared (IR) mission payloads for the agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).

Under the terms of the deal, announced on 27 January, programme officials at Leonardo DRS “will design, build, integrate, and test advanced infrared mission payloads” for the Tranche 3 variant satellites in the Tracking Layer of the PWSA, according to a company statement.

Once mature, the space-based IR sensor payloads will provide detection, warning, and tracking of ballistic missile threats, including hypersonic weapons, company officials said in the statement.

“The infrared capability will be used from the earliest stages of an adversarial launch through interception, including delivering precision fire-control sensing data for missile interceptors,” they added.

Announcement of the IR sensor payload deal comes less than a month after SDA awarded over USD3.5 billion total to industry partners for overall development of Tracking Layer Tranche 3 (TRKT3) satellites for the PWSA.

Specifically, the TRKT3 development will focus on fielding IR missile warning and missile tracking (MW/MT) sensors, along with other supporting missile warning, tracking, and defence (MWTD) sensors, in support of the PWSA Tracking Layer.