SBIRS GEO-6

In June 2015, the U.S. Air Force re-baselined SBIRS GEO-5 and GEO-6 to upgrade both satellites to Lockheed Martin’s LM 2100 bus at no additional cost.

Lockheed Martin is producing SBIRS GEO-6 as the final satellite of the constellation projected to launch in 2022.

Lockheed Martin funded a multiyear internal modernization initiative to enable the LM2100 upgrades for SBIRS GEO-5 and GEO-6.

In 2015, the U.S. Air Force rebaselined the contract for SBIRS GEO-5 and GEO-6 to upgrade both satellites to the LM2100 Combat Bus at no additional cost.

Space Systems Command delivered the sixth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellite (SBIRS GEO-6) to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on 2022-06-02.

The SBIRS GEO-6 satellite has a reported value of $1 billion, is built on the Lockheed Martin LM 2100 bus, and carries a sensor payload developed by Northrop Grumman.

Two Northrop Grumman 63-inch-diameter Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM 63) solid rocket boosters provided additional thrust at the Atlas V launch for SBIRS GEO-6.

Northrop Grumman designed and built the SBIRS GEO-6 mission payload equipped with scanning and staring infrared surveillance sensors.

SBIRS GEO-6 was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

SBIRS GEO-6’s LM2100 Combat Bus (Lockheed Martin) is an enhanced space vehicle that provides greater resiliency and cyber-hardening, improved spacecraft power, propulsion and electronics, common components and procedures to streamline manufacturing, and a flexible design that reduces the cost to incorporate future modernized sensor suites.

SBIRS GEO-6, built by Lockheed Martin, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on 2022-08-04.