Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) High EMD

Abstract

The SBIRS RDT&E FY 2018 budget justification exhibits describe three elements of the SBIRS program: 1) the SBIRS Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) program of record PNO 210 MDAP, 2) the Space Modernization Initiative (SMI) (non-MDAP) and the 3) Evolved SBIRS follow-on (pre-MDAP PNO 499). 1. SBIRS EMD: The Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) primary mission is to provide initial warning of a ballistic missile attack on the US, its deployed forces, and its allies. SBIRS enhances detection and improves reporting of intercontinental ballistic missile launches, submarine launched ballistic missile launches, and tactical ballistic missile launches. SBIRS supports Missile Defense, Battlespace Awareness, and Technical Intelligence missions by providing reliable, accurate, and timely data to Unified Combatant Commanders, Joint Task Force (JTF) Commanders, the intelligence community, and other users. SBIRS provides increased detection and tracking performance over legacy systems in order to meet requirements in Air Force Space Command's (AFSPC) Operational Requirements Document (ORD). The SBIRS system includes both space and ground elements. The space segment consists of Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites, payloads hosted on satellites in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO), and Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites. The ground segment consists of both fixed and mobile data processing elements, communications infrastructure, and relay ground stations serving all SBIRS space elements. Three HEO payloads and three GEO satellites are on-orbit. Two of the three GEO and two of the three HEO satellites have completed AFSPC and USSTRATCOM operational acceptance and are certified for Integrated Tactical Warning/Attack Assessment (ITW/AA) missile warning operations and technical intelligence operations. HEO-3 is in a storage/residual operational mode and GEO-4 (Flight 3) is proceeding through on-orbit checkout and infrared sensor tuning following the Jan 2017 launch. The program of record ground segment development exploits both the new scanner and starer sensor data through software processing and builds user messages for missile warning and missile defense. Also, data exploitation efforts enable access to raw and processed data to expand capabilities for battlespace awareness and other applications. FY 2018 funds support ground segment development. The baseline requirement document is the 1996 SBIRS ORD. Enterprise systems engineering and integration (SE&I) provides intra- and inter-program requirements development, enterprise master planning, validation and verification, specialty engineering, and architecture development. 2. SMI: The primary objective of SMI is to enable and inform future decisions to maintain and evolve a capable, resilient, and affordable OPIR architecture by maturing technologies and mitigating risk areas to facilitate OPIR modernization within the Department's constrained resources. SMI supports the Program of Record (PoR) by assessing future parts and material obsolescence and designing future space and ground modifications focused on affordability and capability while simultaneously maximizing the effectiveness of existing system data products. SMI funds engineering activities to reduce both production and future system costs through manufacturing and producibility enhancements and through technology insertion. SMI will also mature potential technology upgrades at the component and system level for future space and ground architecture affordability and capability enhancements. The SBIRS OPIR SMI plan includes studies and risk reduction activities to evolve the current PoR SBIRS constellation, reduce production timelines, and reduce recurring production costs. Based on the outcome of these studies and technology development, the Sensor Ground Demonstration will develop capability for current, next generation sensors, processors, and algorithms. SMI funded data exploitation efforts include OPIR mission data processing, data fusion, data dissemination, algorithm development, network connectivity, efficient interfaces and sensor performance assessments to enable greater exploitation of SBIRS PoR and other data sources. SMI exploitation efforts build upon PoR capabilities and inform the PoR decision process. The data exploitation efforts identify affordable, responsive and resilient measures to improve technical intelligence and battlespace awareness processing and data dissemination tools to enhance OPIR support to the warfighters and other data users. The SMI Hosted Payloads and Wide Field of View (WFOV) Testbed activities explore technology maturation, qualification of new components, and subsystem/component prototyping to evolve the OPIR architecture. Hosted Payloads and WFOV Testbeds support maturation of mission data processing algorithms for tactical and strategic applications which are critical demonstration efforts to enhance PoR capabilities and to reduce program risks for future OPIR systems, whether new systems or evolutions of the PoR. Collection of on-orbit WFOV data is critical to develop algorithms to process large data sets generated by emerging large format focal planes and to reduce risk for possible SBIRS follow-on architectures. SBIRS Enterprise Ground Services (EGS) infrastructure modernization efforts under SMI will introduce Telemetry, Tracking and Command systems (TT&C) and Ground Control automation, Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) mission data processing as well as competition into SBIRS Ground with an emphasis to on-ramp to EGS as soon as practical. SMI activities are balanced and phased to enable an expanded tradespace and improve the competitive environment. 3. The Evolved SBIRS RDT&E FY 2018 budget justification exhibits describes the SBIRS Next-Generation OPIR program (pre-MDAP PNO 499). This program, BA 05 PE 1206441F, project 657106, EVOLVED SBIRS, is a new start. SBIRS Next-Gen OPIR: The SBIRS’ primary mission is to provide initial warning of a ballistic missile attack on the US, its deployed forces, and its allies. SBIRS enhances detection and improves reporting of intercontinental ballistic missile launches, submarine launched ballistic missile launches, and tactical ballistic missile launches. The SBIRS Next-Gen OPIR will provide improved strategic missile warning coverage and increased resiliency in a strategic constellation to meet the requirements laid out in the Air Force draft Capability Development Document (CDD) based on the AFSPC Space Warfighter Construct (SWC) in response to the Space Enterprise Vision (SEV). The SBIRS Next Gen OPIR systems includes both the space and ground elements. The Next Gen OPIR space segment will consist of GEO and HEO satellites, providing real-time persistent global infrared coverage using a highly resilient bus with modernized payloads. The space segment will begin development of HEO space vehicles in FY21. FORGE and EGS are infrastructure modernization efforts also aligned with AFSPC SWC. The FORGE effort will implement an open framework for mission data processing and migration of C2 of satellite operations to integrate with EGS. FORGE and EGS efforts will provide the flexibility to integrate new mission data processing capabilities and more efficiently allow the system to meet evolving warfighter needs. This program element is in Budget Activity 5, System Development and Demonstration (SDD) because it has passed Milestone B approval and is conducting engineering and manufacturing development tasks aimed at meeting validated requirements prior to full-rate production.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2018
• Source ID: 1206441F_5_3600_PB_2018
• Change Summary Explanation: FY2017: Request for Additional Appropriation (RAA) funded SMI FORGE (+$16.800M), and EMD Cyber Enhancements (+$20.000M). NOTE: RAA adjustments added to project 653616, but SMI FORGE funding will be realigned to project 657009. FY2018: +57.200M for SMI Data Exploitation and Space Warfighter Construct efforts; +$26.306M to fund SBIRS ground cyber security enhancements; -$215.839M realigned SBIRS 7&8 to Space Procurement and SBIRS Evolved RDT&E to new PE.
• Service Agency Name: Air Force

Entities

Organizations

• United States Air Force

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Advanced Electronics
• C4I
• Cyber
• Engineered Resilient Systems
• Sensors
• Space
• Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Artificial Satellites
• Ballistic Missiles
• Command And Control
• Data Processing
• Detection
• Detectors
• Earth Orbits
• Elliptical Orbits
• Geosynchronous Satellites
• Processing Equipment
• Reconnaissance Satellites
• Satellite Buses
• Software Development
• Spacecraft
• Systems Engineering
• Test And Evaluation
• Test Equipment

Readers

• Aerospace Engineering.

Technology Areas

• Space
• Space - Satellites