ASBM-1 satellite enters thermal vacuum environmental testing at Northrop Grumman’s satellite manufacturing facility. (Photo: Northrop Grumman)
The two-satellite ASBM constellation will deliver protected SATCOM to the northern polar region and is a combined effort between the US Space Force, Space Norway and Northrop Grumman.
ASBM uses the Northrop Grumman GEOStar-3 platform, which includes the main structure and systems required to maintain operation, such as power, propulsion, communications, command and data handling and thermal control as well as guidance and navigational control. Northrop Grumman also provides the payload and ground system.
The Control and Planning Segment (CAPS) ground system was delivered to the USSF in March following successful completion of the site acceptance test and functional configuration audit/physical configuration.
Northrop Grumman to provide Norway satellites
CAPS is currently transitioning to the operations phase which opens the door for using the ground system for early operations with the two on-orbit operational payloads along with the capability to support the two Enhanced Polar System Recapitalization (EPS-R) payloads after the ASBM launch.
As well, integration of the EPS-R payload on ASBM-1 and ASBM-2 has finished and thermal-vacuum environmental testing on ASBM-1 has been successfully completed.
Clavister CyberArmour, an integrated defence cybersecurity system, will be used on BAE Systems Hägglunds’ CV90 platform in deployments with a Scandinavian country, as well as in an eastern European nation.
The tactical satellite (TacSat) is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system and will participate in exercises in 2025.
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
Why space is an essential part of modern military capabilities
Defence-secure mixed reality headsets can save hours, or even weeks, of travel time to fix defunct equipment or get subject experts effectively “on-site” where they are needed.
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