Raytheon Technologies has received a contract valued at more than $250 million to design, develop and deliver a seven-vehicle missile tracking satellite constellation, as well as support launch and ground operations, by the US Space Development Agency.

Once deployed, the low-Earth orbit constellation of networked satellites will become the fifth plane of satellites providing missile warning and tracking for the US Department of Defense. According to the company, the program is a key element of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

“Developing a resilient and affordable proliferated satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit will improve our ability to track emerging threats like hypersonic missiles,” said Dave Broadbent, President of Space & C2 at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “Continuing to develop this architecture with SDA and our industry partners will be a high priority for us in the coming months.”

Raytheon says it will leverage existing designs, available commercial products and common components to reduce technical risk and speed delivery. The seven-vehicle satellite constellation will feature its Wide Field of View overhead persistent infrared sensor, Blue Canyon Technologies’ Saturn-class microsatellite bus and SEAKR Engineering’s electronics payload.