Fiscal 2024 Air Force Budget Proposal Seeks Funding for Classified Sensor Project

The secretary of the Department of the Air Force said the Department of Defense’s budget request for fiscal year 2024 includes provisions for a classified air and space sensors project.

Speaking at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air Warfare Symposium, Air Force Secretary and 2023 Wash100 winner Frank Kendall shared that the funds will be for designing and planning the software and communications systems of the sensors. He said the technology will support sensor resilience and enhance data processing and distribution associated with target tracking.

Kendall said the project’s details are classified, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The Air Force secretary, who will speak at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2023 Air Force Summit on July 18, also noted that the U.S. Space Force is continuously working with the intelligence community to develop additional space-based target-tracking systems.

One sensor program that the Pentagon is working on is the Space-Based Telemetry Monitoring, Electronic Support, and Alternative Navigation project. The Sabre project seeks the development of a prototype payload that would collect telemetry from ballistic or hypersonic vehicles being tested at U.S. ranges. The space-based sensor would negate the need to deploy ships and aircraft to collect the same information, thereby reducing the cost of missile testing.