Officials Say Space Force’s Missile Warning Architecture a ‘Bridging Strategy’

The U.S. Space Force said the multibillion-dollar missile warning and tracking architecture included in its fiscal year 2023 budget request is designed to maintain existing programs while new capabilities are being developed.

Gen. John Raymond, chief of space operations at the Space Force and a 2022 Wash100 winner, said during the Space Symposium event that a “bridging strategy” is needed for missile defense because it takes time to develop new capabilities, and current missile defense systems cannot be shut down while new solutions are created.

Frank Kendall, the secretary of the Department of the Air Force and a three-time Wash100 winner, said during the same event that the Space Force needs to modernize its current systems and look at new systems at the same time.

The Space Force is requesting $3.4 billion to keep the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared System operational. It is also seeking $1.2 billion for the development of systems that would track hypersonics from the ground and from space, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

The military branch established a plan for future missile warning systems through the Space Warfighting Analysis Center. It worked with the U.S. Space Systems Command, the Space Development Agency and the Missile Defense Agency to create a future missile warning architecture and briefed the industry about its plans in November.

Col. Brian Denaro, program executive officer for space sensing at SSC, said in an interview that the Space Force and its partners have started working on the requirements for the future missile warning system and are now in the process of creating a memorandum of agreement.

One of the systems that USSF is developing is the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution System, which would provide command and control and mission processing for Next-Gen OPIR satellites. FORGE is also designed to provide a centralized function for the whole missile-warning architecture.

The other programs under the future missile warning system include the MDA’s Hypersonic Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor and the SSC’s Missile Track Custody Prototype.