Northrop Grumman lands $298M Space Force contract

Falls Church company to develop hardware, software for satellite

Published September 17, 2020 by Sydney Lake

The U.S. Space Force (USSF) awarded Falls Church-based Fortune 500 defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. a $298 million contract to help the agency develop hardware and software for a new military satellite communications system, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday.

Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will build a payload to support the Space and Missile Systems Center’s (SMC) Evolved Strategic Satellite (ESS) Communications program, according to the DOD. The SMC works to develop, acquire, field and sustain military space systems.

SMC is obligating $31.2 million for research, development, test and evaluation funds this year. Work on the project, which will be done in Redondo Beach, California, is expected to be finished by May 2025. 

The ESS program is part of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites made by Lockheed Martin, according to reports. The program will provide “survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military operations and national command authorities,” according to SpaceNews.

The USSF plans to allocate $2.5 billion for the ESS project during the next five years, according to DOD budget documents.

Northrop Grumman employs more than 90,000 people and reported $33.8 billion in 2019 revenue.

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