Relay Ground Station-Asia, funded by the Naval Information Warfare Center-Pacific under a five-year, $99.6-million contract, will forward signals from satellites that detect missile launches. (Northrop Grumman)
A new type of relay station for missile warning satellites will be deployed to Guam in late 2025, according to manufacturer Northrop Grumman.
Relay Ground Station-Asia, funded by the Naval Information Warfare Center-Pacific under a five-year, $99.6-million contract, will forward signals from satellites that detect missile launches, a Northrop news release said Thursday.
The station, designed and tested in Boulder, Colo., recently completed a design review, the company said.
“The preliminary design review exceeded our customers’ expectations and is the next step in delivering much-needed new capabilities to the Pacific region,” Aaron Dann, Northrop’s vice president for strategic force programs, said in the release. “Our advanced technologies will deliver what is needed to support missile-warning and missile-tracking satellites that protect our nation and its allies.”
Guam is home to Naval Base Guam, Andersen Air Force Base and the new Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz. The island has long been called the U.S. military’s “tip of the spear” in the Indo-Pacific, owing to its proximity to the South China Sea, North Korea and China.
A separate effort between several Defense Department agencies aims to provide “comprehensive, persistent, 360-degree” defense of Guam against ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles. That system, recently announced and under review, would employ Navy and Army missile systems to counter missile threats from North Korea and China.
Neither Northrop nor Andersen’s 36th Wing responded by Friday afternoon Japan time to phone and email messages seeking further information about the new relay station.
The ground station will allow Navy warships to receive early warnings from infrared sensor satellites and from next-generation sensors that have yet to be launched, Space News reported Thursday.
The Space Force is developing ground stations capable of supporting existing and new satellite constellations with the ability to handle changes in bandwidth and availability, according to Northrop.
