Satellite network upgrade awarded

The Air Force announced last week that it has selected a team led by Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. for the service's Satellite Control Network Contract (SCNC), which is worth an estimated $1.2 billion for up to 15 years.

Honeywell will replace communications technologies that make up the ground network and tracking systems of the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN), installing improved components and antenna systems to ensure that the system is operational 24 hours a day.

AFSCN consists of two communications and operational control centers, as well as multiple antennas, at nine sites worldwide. These ground stations are the communications link between the National Command Authorities -- the president and the secretary of Defense or their designees -- and U.S. forces worldwide.

The SCNC program consolidates development, systems engineering, integration and sustaining functions into one contract for the AFSCN.

The Honeywell SCNC team includes:

* TRW Inc., a systems integrator and satellite ground station developer.

* L-3 Communications, which has 35 years of AFSCN software sustainment experience.

* Booz Allen Hamilton, charged with helping form the plan to implement a future systems architecture.

* Sparta Inc., a small business providing modeling and simulation support.

* Integral Systems Inc., a small business providing software design and development expertise.

* IITC, a small, disadvantaged business, managing the SCNC end-to-end IT effort.

Garrett Mikita, president of Honeywell Technology Solutions, said the company's team will "supply the integrated, cost-effective command and data connectivity between mission controllers and their space vehicles" that the Air Force expects.