Lockheed Martin launches New Line of Mid-Size ISR Satellites

Lockheed Martin announced a new line of mid-size tactical Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) satellites on Monday.

The company is pitching the new satellite- about the size of a small refrigerator- as an alternative to tactical surveillance platforms like airplanes and drones. These satellites, based on Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 mid-size bus, will give the military the ability to track moving targets from space without having to put people at risk.

By following open standards like Open Mission System (OMS) and Universal Command and Control Interface (UCI), these LM 400-based tactical ISR satellites connect with other warfighting platforms and battle management systems from all services. The software-defined satellite capabilities of Lockheed Martin’s SmartSat platform offer the ability to responsively develop and deploy new mission capabilities on orbit.

The LM 400 can also support payloads up to 14 kilowatts and up to 1,500 kg of mass, enabling extended operation of a wide-range of sensor technologies.

Powered by on-board processing and connectivity, this tactical ISR satellite line enables in-theater, low-latency sensor tasking, on-orbit processing of mission data, protected communications and direct downlink of situational awareness and targeting information, increasingly essential to shortening the sensor-to-shooter timeline against fleeting targets.

Lockheed Martin has established Gateway Center, a 3.5 million square-foot satellite manufacturing facility to support accelerated space vehicle production, assembly and testing in a single, flexibly configured space, accommodating multiple security classification levels.

The LM 400-based tactical ISR satellites will play a key role in Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) by allowing tactical warfighters to better employ space-based capabilities.