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Washington – TSpace Development Agency (SDA) Announced Plans Procurement of two separate ground systems to support experimental missile defense satellites that will be essential to demonstrating advanced space-based sensors designed to track and destroy hypersonic missile threats.
The first program, called Advanced Ground Fire Control Infrastructure (AFCGI), will build a cloud-based ground system at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. The system will act as the nerve center for running missile tracking experiments, the first of which will be the Foo Fighter Constellation (short for Orbital Fire Control Support to Fighter Aircraft).
Millennium Space SystemsRecently won a contract It plans to build eight satellites by 2027 and provide initial ground support.
“AFCGI is an important step toward demonstrating advanced fire control capabilities,” SDA Director Derek Tournier told reporters on May 24. The agency is calling for a “common, persistent ground infrastructure” for the fire control prototype program.
The Foo Fighter satellites will be used as a test bed for advanced sensor technology capable of detecting and tracking hypersonic missiles, and the data collected by these satellites will aid the Defense Department in developing a larger constellation of tracking satellites in low-Earth orbit. Rapidly increasing fighter space architectureThe SDA, an agency under the U.S. Space Force, plans to spend about $4 billion per year on developing the PWSA.
Missile defense is an enormously complex challenge, requiring a seamless flow of data between satellites, ground systems and interceptor missiles to destroy threats in flight.
Google News Two-part ground system
Tournia explained that SDA had originally planned to acquire a single, universal ground system for all satellite demonstrations, but the technical complexities of fire-control technology necessitated a different approach.
In addition to AFCGI, which will command the satellite itself, SDA will also be awarded a separate Advanced Fire Control Mission Integration (AFCMI) contract to process and integrate fire control tracking data.
The AFCMI system will take data from the Foo Fighters and future tests, analyze it and standardize the format for use by the broader missile defense network.
Tenders for the AFCMI system are expected to open this summer, with the contract to be awarded in early 2025, Tournier said.
Tourneau said the decision to split the initial ground system procurement came from feedback from industry, explaining that ground mission integration and data mission integration require different skill sets, and the two-pronged approach allows SDA to leverage the best expertise for each function.
Sandra Irwin writes about military space programs, policy, technology and the industries that support the sector. As editor of NDIA’s National Defence, she has covered the armed forces, the Department of Defence, Parliament and the defence industry for almost 20 years.More from Sandra Irwin
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“The Space Agency wants to develop a ‘common, permanent ground infrastructure’ for space-based missile detection and targeting testing. The Space Agency plans to procure a ground system specifically for missile defense…”
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