“The key word here is persistence,” study author Masao Dahlgren told Breaking Defense. “How do we get persistence over the regions we care about? That hasn’t been as explicitly put into prior work until now. This report puts into sharp relief.”
By Theresa HitchensThe new “Fire-Control On Orbit-Support-To-The-War Fighter (FOO Fighter or F2)” program “will accelerate the ability to provide new fire control options for the tactical users,” an SDA spokesperson told Breaking Defense. But how does it play with MDA programs?
By Theresa Hitchens“I am concerned about the transition of HBTSS from the Missile Defense Agency to the Space Development Agency. The apparent shift in strategy to deploy this capability does not reflect the urgency of the hypersonic threats we face,” Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., chairman of the House Armed Service’s strategic forces subcommittee, told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens“We’re gonna down-select … later in the year. Then I have to worry about future budgets, and so that’s what’s really going to throttle” the number of contractors, says MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill.
By Theresa HitchensSDA and MDA need to characterize the Earth’s infrared background — which has “a lot of complex shapes to it, clouds, land and stuff like that” — in order to “pull out the dim signal” of a hypersonic missile, an SDA official explained.
By Theresa Hitchens“What we don’t want to do is launch a weapon that then opens a seeker and there’s nothing there, because the target has maneuvered,” Vice Adm. Jon Hill, said.
By Theresa Hitchens“We’re not going to be able to defend every acre of North America,” Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), says bluntly.
By Theresa Hitchens“The committee is concerned that the SDA is not positioned to execute its mission in an effective manner” and is not “equipped to focus on the many priorities it has set,” the Strategic Forces Subcommittee asserts.
By Theresa Hitchens