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In March, Orbital announced that it had reached agreement with General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems to acquire its satellite design and manufacturing business located in Gilbert, Arizona. The business is a key provider of small- and medium-size low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems used in national security, Earth observation and space science missions by government agencies such as NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. intelligence community. As part of the agreement, Orbital will acquire a state-of-the-art satellite manufacturing facility and welcome to the company about 325 highly skilled engineers, technicians, and program managers.
The acquisition will add advanced medium-class military, commercial imaging and scientific spacecraft to Orbital’s existing market-leading small satellite product offerings, expanding the company’s addressable market with customers involved in intelligence and surveillance, missile tracking, space situational awareness, Earth science and space-based astronomy missions. It also adds approximately 325 experienced satellite engineering and manufacturing professionals to Orbital’s workforce and a state-of-the-art 135,000 square foot space systems production and test facility.
Once the acquisition is closed, Orbital will operate a total of 275,000 square feet of state-of-the-art satellite manufacturing space at the company’s Dulles, Virginia campus and at the newly acquired Arizona Space Center in Gilbert, Arizona.
Over the last 20 years, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (including a predecessor company, Spectrum Astro) has developed and built 15 satellites. These include the Fermi/GLAST astronomy satellite for NASA, the C/NOFS space weather satellite for the U.S. Air Force, the GeoEye-1 commercial imaging satellite for GeoEye, Inc., and the NFIRE experimental satellite for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. These satellites have ranged from 500 to 4,000 Kg in initial mass for deployment into a variety of low-Earth orbits. |
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