The organizations aim to demonstrate capabilities on orbit that could be used to detect and track hypersonic weapons and other advanced threats.

L3Harris will join Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing subsidiary, and Raytheon Technologies, in developing sensor payloads for the Space Force.

The plan highlights the DOD’s embrace of proliferated low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite architectures, which officials view as more resilient than the larger, more expensive spacecraft that currently…