Concerned that potential adversaries are fielding more advanced missiles that could strike the United States or its interests, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is working to upgrade its missile defenses. A key part of the DoD’s effort involves pursuing better sensor coverage, especially in space.
The Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) released a request for proposals (RFP) on September 5 for the Tranche 2 Tracking Layer, which will consist of at least 54 missile-tracking satellites. The RFP reflects DoD’s desire to field larger quantities of satellites than it has in the past to enhance the resiliency of its constellations and improve its ability to track missiles, including those that are sophisticated enough to maneuver in flight. Responses to the solicitation are due October 6.
L3HARRIS, NORTHROP GRUMMAN, SPACEX
The RFP follows SDA’s announcement in July 2022 that it has awarded more than $1.3 billion in contracts to L3Harris Technologies and Northrop Grumman to produce 14 Tranche 1 Tracking Layer satellites each. SDA plans to begin launching the Tranche 1 Tracking Layer satellites in April 2025. Tranche 1 will build upon the Tranche 0 Tracking Layer, for which SDA has launched four SpaceX satellites and plans to launch four L3Harris spacecraft this year.
Tracking Layer satellites will send the information they gather to SDA’s new Transport Layer satellites, which will share the data with interceptors and other weapon systems on the ground. Both layers fall under SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).
The Tracking Layer will also work with the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA’s) new Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor Satellites (HBTSS), which will develop more specific targeting data. L3Harris and Northrop Grumman are under contract to provide one HBTSS prototype satellite each. HBTSS builds on MDA’s retired Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstration satellites.
LOCKHEED MARTIN
Another new MDA sensor, the Lockheed Martin-built Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) at Clear Space Force Station in Alaska, will perform “discrimination” by distinguishing warheads from debris and decoys. When MDA announced in December 2021 that it had completed the radar’s initial fielding, it described LRDR as “more powerful, more capable, more persistent, and more reliable than currently available radars.”
Another Space Force effort, managed by Space Systems Command’s Space Sensing Directorate, is the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) program, which will field a fleet of missile-warning satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) and polar orbit to replace the current Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS). Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman will provide the GEO and polar satellites, respectively.
GUAM DEFENSE
According to Lt. Gen Dan Karbler, commander of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, an unmet requirement exists for a persistent “elevated sensor” at an altitude of 10,000 to 15,000 feet. He said such a sensor could look out farther than ground-based radar and could be particularly useful on Guam, where DoD has begun developing a system to defend the U.S. island territory against advanced ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles.
Speaking at a Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance event on September 8, Karbler said the Guam program provides an opportunity to deploy something like the Army’s former Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS). JLENS was designed to detect cruise missiles and other airborne threats but was cancelled after an embarrassing incident in which one of the program’s tethered, balloon-like aerostats broke free at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and drifted into Pennsylvania in 2015.
Technological advances that have occurred since JLENS’ cancellation mean that what is fielded on Guam “doesn’t necessarily have to be the son of JLENS,” Karbler said. “I think there are opportunities out there to explore other capabilities to meet that elevated sensor requirement.”
