Order Code RS21148 Updated January 30, 2006
CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web
Military Space Programs: Issues Concerning DOD’s SBIRS and STSS Programs Marcia S. Smith Specialist in Aerospace and Telecommunications Policy Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary The Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) programs to develop new satellites to alert U.S. military commanders to foreign missile launches, and to support missile defense objectives, are controversial because of cost growth and schedule slippage. SBIRSHigh, managed by the Air Force, would replace existing Defense Support Program “early warning” satellites. The Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS, formerly SBIRS-Low), managed by the Missile Defense Agency, would perform missile tracking and target discrimination for missile defense objectives. The SBIRS-High program has breached Nunn-McCurdy cost growth limits several times, resulting in several program restructurings. This is the final edition of this report.
Satellite Early Warning Systems The United States began developing early warning satellite systems in the 1950s to alert the National Command Authority to foreign missile launches. The current series is called the Defense Support Program (DSP). The first DSP satellite was launched in November 1970; 22 have been launched to date, most recently in February 2004. The final DSP was delivered to the Air Force in May 2005 for launch later in the year. Each DSP can operate for up to 10 years.1 Four satellites reportedly are needed for a full operational capability. Six satellites reportedly were operating in January 2001.2 DSP satellites (built by Northrop Grumman Space Technology, which was formerly TRW Space and Electronics) use infrared sensors to detect the heat of fuel exhausts associated with missile launches. Sensors on the satellites also can detect nuclear bursts associated with the detonation of nuclear weapons. A February 2001 General Accounting
1
Space News, Jan. 7, 2002, p. 14.
2
Space & Missile Defense Report, Jan. 18, 2001, p. 8. More recent data could not be obtained in the open literature.
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