Raytheon Technologies awarded $250 Million Missile Warning Contract

By Brooks M. Deering, The Chicago Times

March 3, 2023

ARLINGTON, VA – Raytheon Technologies announced Thursday that it received a contract valued at more than $250 million to design, develop, and deliver a seven-vehicle missile tracking satellite constellation by the Space Development Agency.

Raytheon said once the system is deployed, the low-Earth orbit constellation of networked satellites will become the fifth plane of satellites providing missile warning and tracking for the Department of Defense.

“Developing a resilient and affordable proliferated satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit will improve our ability to track emerging threats like hypersonic missiles.  Continuing to develop this architecture with SDA and our industry partners will be a high priority for us in the coming months.” said Dave Broadbent, president of Space & C2 at Raytheon Intelligence & Space in a press release.

Raytheon Technologies is well known for developing missile warning systems for several decades and has expanded development since acquiring Blue Canyon Technologies and SEAKR Engineering.  Raytheon said the seven-vehicle satellite constellation will feature Raytheon’s Wide Field of View overhead persistent infrared sensor, Blue Canyon Technologies’ Saturn-class microsatellite bus, and SEAKR Engineering’s electronics payload.