Another Milestone Achieved: GIO-E5 System Integration Readiness Review

LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, El Segundo, Calif. – The Space Based Infrared Systems Directorate, along with industry partners Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, recently completed a key program milestone. The SBIRS Ground Segment handed over to System Engineering, Integration and Test the GEO Interim Operations Effectivity 5 (GIO-E5) baseline, marking the official beginning of system-level testing with the GIO-E5 software. The GIO-E5 System Integration Readiness Review is an SEIT assessment of the GIO-E5 baseline’s readiness to proceed with the GIO-E5 System Test, Rehearsal and Tuning campaign leading to GEO-1 Message Certification.

The SIRR encompasses not only the successful verification of requirements but also includes the completion and readiness of documentation, security, software, hardware, configuration control, maintenance and sustainment support, and an assessment of system functionality including performance, limitations, open discrepancies and risks.

The GIO-E5 SIRR represents the increasing utility of the SBIRS baselines building on the GIO-I baseline. Col. Troy Brashear, chief of the SBIRS Ground Systems Division, noted that the GIO-E5 SIRR was one of the cleanest reviews in the ground system’s history in terms of the minimal number of liens and open items.

SBIRS will use the GIO-E5 baseline for tuning and payload assessments following the deployment and activation activities for the GEO-1 spacecraft. Once payload tuning is completed, the GIO-E5 baseline transitions to the GEO-1 operational command and control baseline, currently planned for December 2011, leading to GEO-1 Message Certification and Operational Acceptance in 2012.

GEO-1 was launched May 7 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle. The SBIRS System provides four mission areas: Missile Warning, Missile Defense, Battlespace Awareness and Technical Intelligence.

The Air Force Infrared Space Systems Directorate at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is responsible for acquisition of the SBIRS program. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., is the prime contractor responsible for program management, systems engineering and spacecraft development. Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, Azusa, Calif., is the payload subcontractor and supports systems engineering and ground mission processing development. Air Force Space Command operates the SBIRS system.