DARPA announced that it has awarded a one-year, $75 million contract to Orbital Sciences Corporation for the second phase of the System F6 fractionated spacecraft demonstrator program. During this time, Orbital’s industry team will mature its fractionated satellite design up through a critical design review, along with completing development of the majority of its software. The agency intends to conduct an on-orbit demonstration of this fractionated space architecture in 2013 to show the value of operating a cluster of separate, small free-flying spacecraft modules as a much larger “virtual” satellite. This approach could spawn a new design paradigm that moves away from large monolithic satellites. In the process, it could usher in “an era of creativity, adaptability, and economically resilient satellite systems,” said David Neyland, DARPA’s tactical technology office director. (For more on System F6, read Game Changers from the September issue of Air Force Magazine.)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.