Orbital Selected for $475 Million Launch Vehicle Program by U.S. Air Force
Peacekeeper and Minuteman OSP-2 Contracts Continue Expansion Of Company’s Military Target and Space Launch Vehicle Business
Orbital Sciences
Corporation today announced that it has been awarded a major
contract by the U.S. Air Force to provide space launch and missile defense
target vehicles using deactivated Peacekeeper ICBM assets under the
Orbital/Suborbital Program-2 (OSP-2). Orbital also made the sole offer for
the other half of OSP-2, providing space and target launch vehicles using
deactivated Minuteman assets similar to the work that the company is
performing for the Air Force under the current OSP-1 contract. Orbital was
awarded the OSP-2 Peacekeeper contract by Detachment 12 of the Space and
Missile Systems Center, located at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, NM.
The OSP-2 Minuteman contract will be negotiated as a sole source acquisition.
Together, these announcements include potential orders for as many as 41
launch vehicles for a total combined maximum value of $475 million.
On January 29, 2003, the Air Force announced the award to Orbital of a 10-
year contract, potentially worth about $238 million, to design, manufacture
and integrate U.S. government-supplied Peacekeeper rocket motors to develop
target vehicles for missile defense testing. Orbital will also combine
Peacekeeper rocket motors with commercial launch vehicle technology derived
from its Pegasus® and Taurus® rockets to develop and operate low-cost
vehicles to launch U.S. government-funded satellites into low-Earth orbit.
The company was also selected for sole source procurement for the Minuteman
portion of the OSP-2 contract, which is also a 10-year contract, with the same
potential value of about $238 million, to provide similar services utilizing
U.S. government-supplied Minuteman rocket motors. Under the Minuteman portion
of the contract, Orbital will continue to provide target and Minotaur space
launch services as it has for the past five years under the existing OSP-1
contract.
“We are extremely pleased with our selection by the Air Force for the OSP-
2 contract,” said Mr. Ron Grabe, Executive Vice President and General Manager
of the company’s Launch Systems Group. “The Peacekeeper award and the
selection for the Minuteman sole source procurement will provide Orbital the
opportunity to continue to support the Air Force with the outstanding rocket
systems integration and launch services that we delivered under the original
OSP-1 contract. Over the past five years, Orbital’s commitment to product
reliability has been clearly demonstrated with our 100% mission success rate
on OSP-1 missions. We intend to continue to provide the same level of
technical, schedule and budgetary integrity over the next ten years that we
accomplished in the first five years of the program,” Mr. Grabe concluded.
The OSP-2 contract will build on the initial OSP-1 contract awarded to
Orbital in 1997. Under the initial five-year OSP-1 contract, which did not
include Peacekeeper assets, the Air Force ordered nine long-range target
vehicles and five Minotaur space launch vehicles based on decommissioned
Minuteman rocket motors, with a current contract value of over $140 million.
The Air Force expanded the scope of the OSP-2 contracts to include the
Peacekeeper motors in addition to the Minuteman assets.
Over the past several years, Orbital has experienced rapid growth in its
missile defense-related business, which is primarily centered at the company’s
Chandler, AZ, facility in the Phoenix area. For over two decades, Orbital has
been one of the country’s leading providers of target vehicles for missile
defense programs. The company has significantly increased its target-related
work in the past several years with numerous contract awards from the Air
Force, Army and Navy. In addition to its target vehicle work, Orbital was
selected last year by The Boeing Company for a contract to develop a new
interceptor booster for the U. S. Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-Based
Midcourse Defense System.
About Orbital
Orbital is one of the world’s leading developers and manufacturers of
small space systems for commercial, civil government and military customers.
The company’s primary products are spacecraft and launch vehicles, including
low-orbit, geostationary and planetary spacecraft for communications, remote
sensing and scientific missions; ground- and air-launched rockets that deliver
satellites into orbit; and missile defense boosters that are used as
interceptor and target vehicles. Orbital also offers space-related technical
services to government agencies and develops and builds satellite-based
transportation management systems for public transit agencies and private
vehicle fleet operators.
More information about Orbital can be found at http://www.orbital.com .
CONTACT: Barron Beneski, Public and Investor Relations of Orbital
Sciences Corporation, +1-703-406-5528, or Beneski.barron@orbital.com.
