The new ground system, known as Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE), is being designed to conduct daily operations and command and control for the Space Force’s Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) constellation, as well as those in the legacy Space-Based Infrared System.

Space Systems Command has already fielded the first key component in the FORGE architecture to operators, and now plans to deliver additional upgrades to the system at least once a year, Col. Rob Davis, PEO for space sensing at SSC, said Tuesday.

“We’re going to continue to deliver not in a big-bang software way, but in more of an agile way. It could be a couple times a year or could be once a year,” Davis told reporters during a roundtable at the annual AFA Warfare Symposium.

After facing developmental woes due to the architecture’s complexity, the command divided FORGE into four separate programs: FORGE framework, FORGE Mission Data Processing Application Framework, FORGE C2 and Relay Ground Stations. The program also includes the Next-Gen Interim Operations effort to create a transition command-and-control solution in the interim.

In April 2024, SSC delivered the Forge framework to the OPIR Battlespace Awareness Center. The technology is operational at the 2nd, 8th and 11th Space Warning Squadrons, as well as the 64th Cyberspace Squadron. The system includes new hardware, computers and an operating system that increases cyber resiliency and offers “enhanced mission applications” for operators, according to the service.

“Why did we do that? One, incremental delivery can bring some things out as we continue down the delivery pipeline. But most importantly was to take advantage of the enhancements in cybersecurity and resiliency that it brings by having that [FORGE framework] there, that was built from the ground up in modern software and cybersecurity practices to bring that resiliency to the ops floor,” Davis said.

Moving forward, Davis said the Space Force expects to deliver the data processing framework — under development by RTX — sometime this summer. The service will then work to field FORGE C2, which is being developed by BAE Systems after the company received a $151 million contract for phase two of the effort on Monday.

Davis emphasized that once all of FORGE’s components are delivered, SSC will continue to upgrade the architecture so that it has the most advanced capabilities.

“We’re always going to be shoulder to shoulder with our operations brothers and sisters, enhancing the system against the threats and keeping the agile software development going to make sure we’re keeping pace with the enemy,” he said.

The new delivery model is helping SSC ensure FORGE — or at least critical parts of it — is delivered on time to support the Space Force’s upcoming missile warning and missile-tracking constellations. In 2023, a report from the Government Accountability Office found that key pieces of the FORGE system were at risk of not being ready until after 2025.

The first two Next-Gen OPIR satellites are slated to launch into geosynchronous orbit sometime in 2026. To make sure there are no delays in operationalizing the sats, FORGE’s Next-Gen Interim Operations component will provide an interim ground segment capability that will eventually transition into the larger FORGE program, Davis said.

“That was necessary for developmental timelines as a risk mitigation, so that we weren’t trying to depend too much on FORGE and setting ourselves up for a challenge there,” he noted.

The post Space Force embraces incremental approach to fielding new missile warning ground segment appeared first on DefenseScoop.

As part of the Proliferated Space Warfighter Architecture (PWSA), SDA is developing both a missile tracking and custody layer comprising hundreds of small satellites that will be stationed in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and able to sense and track advanced missile threats. The custody layer will be the main sensing capability that conducts ISR — a role for which the Defense Department has traditionally relied on partners in the National Reconnaissance Office or commercial industry.

“Moving forward, we see there are a lot of niche missions where the fine line between what is the tracking mission and what becomes the custody mission starts to get blurred,” Tournear said during a media roundtable at AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber conference. “If you’re going after more and more advanced, specialty-type missile systems, that’s tracking, but it can also be the custody mission.”

The Department of the Air Force has been working alongside members of the intelligence community to migrate some of its airborne moving target indication capabilities into the space domain. The Space Force this year received funding via the department’s new Quick Start authority to begin work for a program known as Long Range Kill Chains, a joint effort with the NRO to develop ground moving target indicator (GMTI) sensors and auxiliary payloads that will replace part of the E-8C JSTARS fleet.

SDA already has some programs underway that will experiment with fire-control solutions for address advanced missile threats, such as the experimental Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (FOO Fighter) satellites and the Gamma variant of the Tranche 2 data transport layer, Tournear said.

While the agency does not have any near-term plans to work on a solicitation to industry for additional space-based ISR capabilities or programs, he added that it anticipates doing so shortly.

“In the future, we do see SDA building more sensing satellites to be able to do some of those niche missions that aren’t being done by others, to do that sensing aspect for some very, very hard targets and then be able to pull that into our transport layer,” he told reporters.

At the same time, SDA is gearing up to launch the first operational satellites within the PWSA in early 2025, Tournear said. The agency originally intended to put the Tranche 1 birds into orbit before the end of 2024, but it pushed the date back a few weeks due to supply chain problems experienced by some of the prime vendors’ subcontractors.

SDA is also adjusting its acquisition strategy for future tranches of transport and tracking satellites to allow more time for vendors to build their platforms. Previous contracts required industry to have systems ready to launch within two-and-a-half years of the contract date — a requirement that the organization is now extending to three years. Because of that, the agency has moved up when it plans to release solicitations for Tranche 3 PWSA satellites by several months, Tournear added.

“Two-and-a-half years for order to orbit is exceptionally difficult. I think that industry will get there, but it takes time to build up,” he told reporters. “Three years for order to orbit is what we’ve been seeing industry be able to do, even when they’re going as fast as they can.”

Updated on Sept. 17, 2024, at 8:10 AM: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that SDA has delayed solicitations for Tranche 3 PWSA satellites by several months. The agency has in fact moved up when it plans to release the solicitations. This story has been updated to reflect that.

The post SDA evaluating future role in ‘niche’ space-based ISR missions appeared first on DefenseScoop.

One batch includes four L3Harris-built systems that will complete Tranche 0 of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), which will include a total of eight missile-tracking space vehicles and 19 data transport satellites on orbit.

Additionally, two Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) platforms — one built by L3harris and another by Northrop Grumman for the Missile Defense Agency — also went up.

Wednesday’s launch was slated for 5:30 PM EST from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-40 in Florida. On Wednesday evening, SpaceX posted on the social media platform X that a Falcon 9 rocket “launched USSF-124 to orbit.”

The Pentagon plans to put the technologies through their paces this year to test their capabilities on orbit.

The effort comes as the U.S. military is looking for new tools to counter hypersonic missiles, which are designed to fly faster than Mach 5 and have unpredictable flight paths.

“The maneuverability and low flight altitude of hypersonic weapons could challenge existing detection and defense systems. For example, most terrestrial-based radars cannot detect hypersonic weapons until late in the weapon’s flight due to line-of-sight limitations of radar detection. This leaves minimal time for a defender to launch interceptors that could neutralize an inbound weapon,” according to a Congressional Research Service report.

New space-based sensors are seen as a solution to that problem.

The SDA missile-tracking spacecraft will be equipped with wide-field-of-view sensor payloads and optical communications terminals. The HBTSS systems will provide narrower, but more sensitive medium-field-of-view coverage.

Wide field of view “is intended to provide cueing data to HBTSS, which could then provide more specific, target quality data to a ground-based interceptor,” according to the CRS report.

“Space Development Agency’s wide field of view — think of that as broad surveillance in their tracking layer,” then-MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said last year during a budget briefing at the Pentagon.

“The role of HBTSS is to take a cue from either ground sensors or the wide field of view, to go to the smaller, medium field of view. So, think of that as now weapons control quality data. So, we go from broad tracking to now we need to put a weapon on, so you have to have a higher sensitivity. And that’s what HBTSS does,” he explained.

Senior SDA officials who briefed reporters ahead of the launch on condition of anonymity noted that the Tranche 0 systems are meant to serve as technology demonstrators, while subsequent tranches will provide “operational” capability.

“These two programs — [Tranche] 0 and HBTSS — have already inspired all of what we’re doing in Tranche 1 and Tranche 2. In Tranche 1, HBTSS payloads are a part of that program, which we’ll be launching in ‘25. And then in Tranche 2, we have several HBTSS-inspired designs, and other new capability as well. So what MDA has done with HBTSS has … enabled SDA to move forward and deliver missile defense capability to support intercept and [combatant commands] worldwide,” a senior SDA official said.

For the upcoming demos, Tranche 0 and HBTSS systems will be in the same “near equatorial” orbit, according to a senior SDA official.

Demonstrations of the satellites’ ability to detect and track are expected to occur during this calendar year when other Defense Department components test their own missiles.

“It’s just a matter of the launch windows coinciding with our satellites to be able to image those. So, we are actively working with all of our partners to be able to schedule those demos. And you’ll see those over the coming months here,” a senior SDA official said.

Flight tests of U.S. hypersonic missiles using all-up rounds are infrequent. For example, the Air Force has just one more test of its ARRW prototype slated for this year.

“I think that’s a fair assessment that there aren’t many of these, right? But that is the intent to be able to work with cooperative and noncooperative targets to be able to do our demonstration. So, we work very closely with all of our mission partners in terms of their planning for those activities. So, you know, we have insight and are able to plan accordingly,” a senior SDA official told DefenseScoop during the briefing with reporters.

The SDA and HBTSS systems won’t be optically connected on orbit for the demos. The cueing will take place via ground stations, according to a senior SDA official. However, these types of capabilities are expected to be more integrated in future tranches of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

“In T1, we have HBTSS payloads on tracking layer buses, and they’re completely integrated into PWSA. So, they’re completely integrated at that time. And T2, we’ve got six more various types of payloads, but those are all integrated again. So moving forward, everything will be integrated,” the official told reporters.

Tranche 1 missile-tracking sats are slated to launch in spring 2025 and the Tranche 2 platforms are scheduled to go up in spring 2027.

In 2022, L3Harris and Northrop Grumman were awarded to build 14 systems each for Tranche 1. L3Harris, Lockheed Martin and Sierra Space were recently tapped to build and operate 54 satellites for Tranche 2.

Updated on Feb. 14, 2014, at 10:30 PM: This story has been updated to reflect that the SDA and MDA satellites were launched Wednesday evening.

The post New SDA, MDA missile-tracking satellites launched into space appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The company received a design contract worth nearly $29 million from Space Systems Command (SSC) to develop prototypes for Epoch 1 of the Resilient Missile Warning and Missile Tracking MEO effort, the service announced Monday. L3Harris will join Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing subsidiary, and Raytheon Technologies, both of which received initial contracts for the program in 2021, in the program’s first phase.

“Adding a third vendor reduces risk and non-recurring engineering not only for Epoch 1, but for future Epochs as well,” Col. Heather Bogstie, senior materiel leader of SSC’s resilient missile warning, tracking and defense (MWTD) acquisition delta, said in a statement. “Having another payload option opens the trade space and allows us to take advantage of all industry has to offer as we deliver high-quality capability to the warfighter.”

The contract awarded to L3Harris is a one-year other transaction agreement, under which the company will design a sensor payload for the program. Space Systems Command will have the option to buy up to three payloads and satellites from L3Harris following a successful completion of the design program.

According to its budget request for fiscal 2024, the Space Force intends to buy three satellites from Raytheon and six from Millenium for Epoch 1.

The service plans to begin launching the first satellites sometime in fiscal 2026, and hopes to deliver satellites every three years in subsequent Epochs “incrementally building capability and robustness over time,” according to a SSC release.

The future satellites are part of a larger effort in the Space Force to create a missile warning and missile-tracking architecture that is better suited to detect and track dim or high-speed objects, such as hypersonic missiles that can fly faster than Mach 5 and are highly maneuverable.

To meet new threats, the Pentagon plans to shift focus away from launching satellites in higher orbital regimes and instead proliferate satellites in low- and medium-Earth orbits. The Space Development Agency is planning to begin launching its first “mission capable” missile warning and missile tracking satellites into low-Earth orbit in April 2025 — a constellation that L3Harris is also contracted for. The company received $700 million from the agency in 2022 to build a 14-vehicle satellite constellation for low-Earth orbit.

The post L3Harris lands contract for Space Force missile warning sensor to track hypersonics appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The plan highlights the DOD’s embrace of proliferated low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite architectures, which officials view as more resilient against adversary attacks or other disruptions than the larger, more expensive spacecraft that currently reside in GEO.

“The path that the Space Force is marching towards is that we won’t rely on those [GEO missile warning satellites] in the future,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said during a media roundtable at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber conference.

The department still intends to deploy the remainder of the geostationary missile warning and missile tracking spacecraft that are under contract, he said.

“We’ll launch the current round of programs, but the future will all be proliferated LEO with a semi-proliferated MEO [medium-Earth orbit architecture] to give you that resilience,” he said.

The last of the planned geostationary missile warning satellites are slated to be launched before the end of the decade, and they will have a lifecycle of about 15 years, according to Tournear. Those systems will remain part of the missile warning architecture until they are completely phased out in the 2040s, he said.

When they reach the end of their lifecycles “we’ll do away with the GEOs and the big, exquisite, expensive satellites. But we will have this proliferated layer at LEO and MEO that provide missile warning, missile tracking, and then also what we call the fire control from the LEO layer,” he said.

However, there will be a transition period when the geostationary systems are still online and the new LEO-MEO architecture is being put into place.

“The reason there’s that period of a shift, right, is because this is a no-fail mission that the U.S. is relying on the Space Force to provide. So we want to have that overlap … We want to make sure we have a firm handle and make sure that the LEO-MEO layer are working before we let go” of the GEO systems, Tournear said.

The Space Development Agency is leading the charge for the Defense Department on acquiring tranches of low-Earth orbit systems for missile tracking as well as data transport.

Pentagon officials have grown more concerned in recent years about adversaries’ development of highly maneuverable missiles such as hypersonic weapons and cruise missiles. LEO systems are expected to provide more tracking capability to deal with these types of evolving threats.

“As you get lower, right, you have more sensitivity, so … you can start to detect things that you would not — you weren’t as able to detect and track from GEO,” Tournear said.

Geostationary architectures were originally designed to essentially do launch detection, he noted. In the past, missile flight paths could be more easily predicted based on traditional ballistic missile trajectory equations. However, many of today’s missiles have much more maneuverability and fly at different trajectories, and therefore a better tracking capability is needed.

“There’s very few missiles that rely on just ballistic trajectories,” Tournear said. “When they’re maneuvering, they’re not as bright as when they’re launching, and so you need to have more sensitivity [from satellite-based sensors]. And obviously the closer you get to the source, the easier it is to detect a lower sensitivity value. And so that’s why not only do you get the resilience [with LEO satellite architectures], but you … get that better sensitivity, the ability to track maneuvering targets.”

However, Tournear noted that the Pentagon isn’t moving away from GEO architectures for all mission sets.

“I don’t want to intimate that the department is getting completely out of the GEO business, because there’s a lot of other missions that are very efficient to do from GEO and we will continue to do there. There’s certain comm missions we’ll continue to do from GEO. As the department moves up more into cislunar space, GEO is a key aspect of that,” he noted.

The post Pentagon to phase out use of geostationary satellites for missile warning, missile tracking appeared first on DefenseScoop.