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Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $284.4 million fixed-price contract to procure long-lead-time parts for the fifth and sixth Space Based Infrared System geosynchronous orbit satellites, announced company officials. Under this contract, Lockheed Martin will purchase the remaining long-lead-time components for GEO-5 and GEO-6, states the company’s March 5 release. This contract award “reinforces the government’s confidence in our ability to produce these vital satellites efficiently going forward,” said Jeff Smith, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of overhead persistent infrared systems. The company will carry out this work prior to the final contract for full production of these two spacecraft, which will be part of the broader SBIRS missile warning constellation. That final contract will come at a later date. Work under the new contract is expected to be completed by June 2016, according to the description included in the Pentagon’s list of major contracts for Feb. 20. Last October, the Air Force let an $82 million contract to Lockheed Martin to initiate the non-recurring engineering activities for GEO-5 and GEO-6 and to procure the first set of long-lead-time parts.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.