Space Force Chief John Raymond Tours Terran Orbital’s Irvine Facilities

Satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital has given Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond a tour of its operations and manufacturing facilities in Irvine, California.

Raymond, a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker and 2022 Wash100 winner, received briefings on various projects and toured production operations and assembly, integration and test facilities, Terran Orbital said Monday.

Marc Bell, co-chairman and CEO of Terran Orbital, said the company’s products and services are raising the bar for the aerospace and defense industry.

“We are always thrilled to share our insights and capabilities with General Raymond and the U.S. Space Force,” Bell added.

During his visit, Raymond received a briefing about the satellite buses that Terran Orbital is building for Lockheed Martin, which plans to use them for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 Transport Layer.

SDA’s Transport Layer is intended to provide assured, low-latency military data and connectivity globally, the agency’s website says.

Satellite buses are key components that hold spacecraft’s scientific equipment and other necessary tools. Terran Orbital announced in May that it had delivered the first 10 units to Lockheed.

Terran Orbital explained that Tranche 0 will have limited network capability, with upgrades to follow. The future Tranche 1 is expected to have a significantly greater data delivery capability.

The company said in a previous press release that Tranche 0 would still be foundational for the Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept.