Lockheed Martin LM400 testbed launch scrubbed

A rendering of Lockheed Martin's LM400 midsize, multimission satellite bus. (Lockheed Martin)

Programme officials at Lockheed Martin have temporarily scrubbed the anticipated initial launch of the company's advanced satellite communications (satcom) testbed.

The LM400 midsize satellite bus technology demonstrator was set for launch on 15 March, aboard Firefly Aerospace's Alpha FLTA006 rocket, at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, according to a 14 March Lockheed Martin statement. However, the launch was eventually scuttled after “range constraints at Vandenberg”, according to Firefly Aerospace's social media accounts.

“The rocket and payload remain healthy and ready for launch. We're now working with the range team to determine the next [launch] window,” Firefly Aerospace officials said in a 17 March social media post on X (formerly Twitter). Lockheed Martin spokesperson Chip Eschenfelder had not responded to queries from Janes at the time of publication regarding future launch dates or whether the LM400 would be in orbit later than March.

The LM400 features a common midsize satellite bus “that has more payload and more power than the [tactical satellites] but [is] much less expensive, much more agile, and can be built quicker” than the larger satcom and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) satellite systems being developed by Lockheed Martin, Jeff Schrader, Lockheed Martin's vice-president of global situation awareness, said during a January briefing.

In development since 2021, the LM400 prototype design cleared Critical Design Review (CDR) prior to its initial launch. “We're through development at this point and ready to bid” the LM400 to the Pentagon and service leaders as a fieldable system, Schrader said.