April 30, 2024
WASHINGTON — Military officials often emphasize the importance of a “full spectrum” approach to missile defense across all domains and all timelines, from left of launch deterrence and intelligence gathering to right of launch detection, warning, tracking, interception and defeat.
While the so-called “kill phase” of missile defense is critical, recent events demonstrate that defeating low-cost missiles with multimillion-dollar interceptors is not sustainable. There is growing recognition of the need for technology innovation, from directed energy to enhanced sensing and integration between the land, sea, air and space-based layers of the enterprise.
“The defensive interceptor piece is only one piece of the puzzle,” said Dr. John Plumb, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, during a keynote at the NDIA’s Missile Defense Symposium in Washington, D.C. “We need to think about the whole problem set.”
Proliferating Space Defenses
Space has long been critical to the U.S. missile defense enterprise. That was made clear in April 2023, when planning and operational support for transregional missile defense was formally transferred to U.S. Space Command. Yet, despite decades of program development and billions of dollars of investment, there is still a gap between deployed capabilities and the level of persistent missile warning, missile tracking (MW/MT) demanded by military and policy leaders.
There are signs that the gap is beginning to close as a result of the development, testing and scheduled deployment of a multi-orbit MW/MT architecture in support of terrestrial systems.
“The thing that we need to do is proliferate,” said Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu referring to the need for more MW/MT spacecraft on orbit.
In February, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) successfully launched two of its Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) satellites into low Earth orbit, along with four other missile tracking spacecraft developed by the Space Development Agency (SDA). The SDA tracking satellites are reportedly returning data and actively scanning global hot spots.
As significant as this launch was, Shyu noted that the limited number of satellites is an inherent constraint. “It’s not good enough to have a ‘twosie,’” she said. “We need a lot more satellites than a ‘twosie.’”
A Multi-Orbit Roadmap
HBTSS will complement the missile tracking layer of the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), which will consist of roughly 100 satellites in LEO when fully deployed. Space-based missile tracking will also include roughly 27 satellites in medium Earth orbit (MEO) as well as legacy systems—and their successors—operating in GEO and highly elliptical orbits (HEO). The multiple orbits allow for a broader scope of sensor data, more timely data collection and transmission, and a more resilient, survivable architecture.
SDA estimates the first operational LEO MW/MT satellites, or Tranche 1, will begin launch in April 2025 and will establish an initial warfighting capability. Improvements in sensor sensitivity, targeting and other capabilities will be incorporated into spacecraft deployed in future Tranches.
In MEO, Space Systems Command and SDA are currently collaborating on the first of three Epochs of MW/MT, which will consist of nine satellites in two orbital planes. Those Epoch 1 satellites will provide initial regional capabilities and are scheduled for launch in late FY 2026 or early FY 2027. The completed constellation will have 27 satellites.
In GEO and HEO, the Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) satellites and Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) continue to offer the most reliable coverage for early warning missile launch and tracking. However, they were not designed for today’s most pressing threats: maneuvering, non-ballistic and low-altitude hypersonic weapons. SBIRS is scheduled to be succeeded by the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared satellite system by the end of the decade.
Integrating Ground and Space Sensors
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Read the full article: https://www.kratosspace.com/constellations/articles/interceptors-only-1-piece-of-the-puzzle-missile-defense-begins-in-space
