Theresa Hitchens is the Space and Air Force reporter at Breaking Defense. The former Defense News editor was a senior research associate at the University of Maryland’s Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM). Before that, she spent six years in Geneva, Switzerland as director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).
A sci-fi geek, voracious reader, enthusiastic cook, dabbler in poetry, Theresa is also the proud mom of a wonderful young man by the name of Nicholas.
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The “baseline” MEO missile warning/tracking configuration providing global coverage will include “approximately 27 satellites,” said SSC program lead Col. Heather Bogstie.
Brig. Gen. Jason Cothern, Space Systems Command deputy, said the service is looking “to incorporate capability-based contracts to include emerging p-LEO services, commercial X-band, space-to-cellular and small maneuverable GEO satellites, trying to stay ahead of the threat and also taking advantage of the commercial capabilities as they arise.”
“Here’s the beauty of the spiral development program. I don’t know what Tranche 3 looks like. All I know is it’s more of what was on Tranche 2, and it is most likely going to be new capabilities,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said Thursday. “I don’t want to define what those capabilities are now.”
SSC Director of International Affairs Deanna Ryals told Breaking Defense that the primary goal of the first-ever “international reverse industry days” meeting is survey the landscape of needed allied space capabilities, and figure out where countries can help fill each other’s gaps.
While the new Russian satellite didn’t get super close to any others, its behavior “could be considered unfriendly,” said Slingshot’s Audrey Schaffer, who until recently served as the director of space policy at the National Security Council.
Amazon recently launched the first two prototypes for its Project Kuiper; OneWeb now has all 634 satellites it needs to provide global internet access.
One of the questions the Army’s ISR Task Force is grappling with regard to sensing is how best to “leverage the vast proliferation of commercial satellite providers,” said task force director Andrew Evans.
While the NRO has never revealed exactly how many satellites it operates, historically its imaging and signals intelligence constellations have been made up of handfuls of very large birds.
Despite the current supply chain obstacles, the Army is confident it can fully field the first Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) units by the end of this calendar year, said Chris Mills of the service’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office.
“While many of us may typically think of maritime operations as maybe more of the domain of the Navy or the Marine Corps, it’s really the Army that is charged with moving our troops or equipment or supplies across the land-water interface in order to enable early theater entry as well as support and sustain DoD operations,” said senior researcher Kate Brodie.
