El Departamento de Defensa de EUA tiene previsto avanzar en el 2023, con el desarrollo de una constelación de satélites, que permitan cubrir las necesidades de defensa en el espacio, contra la amenaza de los disruptivos misiles Hipersónicos (HM). El programa inter-agencia entre la Missile Defense Agency (MDA), la Space Force y la Space Development Agency (SDA), denominado Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS), prevé disponer de multiplicidad de sensores satelitales, de medio y amplio campo de visión. Los mismos deben ser capaces de “trackear” de manera constante los HM, difíciles de seguir y adquirir por los modernos sistemas de Def Ae & Mis existentes, no solo por su extrema velocidad, sino también por su maniobrabilidad y capacidad de vuelo a baja altura.
WASHINGTON: The Defense Department will decide whether to go forward with a program to develop and field new space-based sensors capable of tracking hypersonic weapons sometime late next year, with the Missile Defense Agency asking for $89 million in fiscal 2023 funds to launch two prototypes, said MDA head Vice Adm. Jon Hill.
Speaking to reporters Monday on the release of the Defense Department’s FY23 budget request, Hill said the decision on whether to “proliferate” the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) would be made jointly by MDA, the Space Force and the Space Development Agency (SDA).
HBTSS, with a medium field-of-view, is to be paired with another set of sensor satellites with a wide field-of-view being developed by SDA under its Tracking Layer effort. Together, the two types of satellites would create a network in Low Earth Orbit that can detect and keep constant track of maneuvering hypersonic missiles that are difficult targets for current Pentagon missile warning satellites and radar.
“We should have data coming down in the summer ’23 or so, and we’ll be able to help the Space Force make decisions,” he said.
The goal, Hill said, is to integrate the HBTSS, along with SDA’s Tracking Layer satellites, into the Space Force’s overarching architecture for missile warning/tracking, with the service taking on operations of the HBTSS satellites as well.
Tracking and then taking out hypersonic weapons, which by definition travel at least five times the speed of sound, won’t be easy.
The plan is for HBTSS satellites to be cued by the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) and the aging Defense Support Satellites — and in future the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared System (Next-Gen OPIR) satellites — that detect the infrared plumes from missile launches. The HBTSS sensors would track the missiles in their high-speed glide phase, then “hand off” targeting coordinates to shooters such as the Navy’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and the Army’s Theater High Altitude Area Defense interceptors.
The prototypes are still on track to launch during the second quarter of FY23, according to MDA’s briefing charts.
MDA awarded L3Harris a $121 million contract on Jan. 14, 2021 and Northrop Grumman $155 million on Jan. 22, 2021 for each to develop a prototype sensor.
Hill said that over the past year the companies have been undertaking ground testing, and that data will inform the on-orbit testing to come.
“We really worked hard to de-risk of the program,” he said. “So, you’ve probably heard me talk about some of the ground testing we have done, where we have pulled the hot targets off of the warm Earth and that is not easy. But the companies have performed very well.
“We’re going to take them into space, into that environment,” he continued. “Then we’re going to pull that data down, we’re going to put it in the fire control loop, and if we prove to ourselves that this is worth dealing with, then we’ll proliferate. But that will be done as part of the larger OPIR enterprise.”
Fuente: https://breakingdefense.com
