Resilient MW/MT

Abstract

The United States Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) and Space Development Agency (SDA) are collaborating to deliver Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) capabilities, in concert with Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) partners, to support a proliferated space architecture that is resilient by design and capable of operating through contested environments. SSC Resilient Missile Warning/Missile Tracking (MW/MT) - Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) space and ground efforts pivot the Department of the Air Force's (DAF) legacy missile warning force design to a more resilient multi-orbit approach to counter advanced missiles, hypersonic glide vehicles, and fractional orbital bombardment threats. MW/MT - MEO is anchored in Missile Warning and Missile Defense Capability Development Document (CDD) requirements validated by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC). Constellation resiliency is foundational to the DAF Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking force design, therefore, the OPIR Family of Systems, including MW/MT - MEO, is designed to work cohesively to gain and maintain custody of a spectrum of missile threats. The MEO program will deploy space assets in multiple epochs to allow for incremental capability delivery and to ensure competition throughout the lifecycle of the program. Resilient MW/MT - MEO will bolster legacy Space Based Infrared Satellite (SBIRS) and Next-Gen OPIR capabilities and will independently satisfy all mission area CDD requirements for both missile warning and tracking by as early as FY 2031. To support the LEO Space layer specific ground functions, SDA's ground segment provides constellation management, ground-based data processing, dissemination, and management, space-to-ground verification and ground-based interoperability testing, support operations, and other integration activities for the SDA Tracking Layer and integrates it with the Missile Warning/Missile Tracking/Missile Defense (MW/MT/MD) enterprise. As a part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), the LEO MW/MT/MD ground segment leverages the Tranche 1 (T1) Transport Layer, and T1 Operations and Integration (O&I) Centers to provide MW/MT data to the Warfighter anywhere in the world. The T1 Tracking Layer, awarded in FY 2022, is the minimum viable product proliferated satellite constellation to provide global access for tracking of Hypersonic Glide Vehicles and other advanced missile threats. This program element funds required upgrades to the SDA ground segment in order to provide command and control, mission data processing, low latency data dissemination, support operations, and other ground functions to support the capabilities for T1 and future tranches. Using a Combined Program Office (CPO) construct, SSC, SDA, and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) are teaming to develop and implement a system-of-systems integration strategy across for MW/MT/MD constellations supporting LEO, MEO, and GEO/Polar orbit regimes. Resilient MW/MT - MEO Epoch 1 is comprised of multiple space and ground lines of effort to include following ground items: - Develop mission data processing, on contract as of December 2022 and mission unique ground software. - Perform the operations and integration of the space vehicles into the operations center for command and control at the Tools, Applications, and Processing (TAP) lab. Plan to have operations and integration contract award for MEO no later than 3rd quarter FY 2023. - Develop command and control software to enable traditional tracking, telemetry, commanding, tipping, and cueing across multiple collection layers. On contract as of December 2022. Additional ground applications (such as the ground resource manager) planned as part of the Operations and Integration contract in Summer 2023. - Acquire, build, install, test, and operate ground-based antennas for uplink/downlink of commands and mission data. At least two sites and six apertures are required for Epoch 1. On contract as of February 2023. - Test, assess, and validate sensor performance on the ground and on-orbit to ensure track data is integrated by Program of Record (PoR) data and fusion operational programs such as Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) (PE 1206440SF), Ballistic Missile Defense OPIR Architecture, other classified partners and missions, research and development multi-intelligence fusion (PE 1206442SF), and intelligence characterization. SV testing is on contract as of December 2022. Fusion software studies underway with FORGE program as of March 2023. Additional studies planned with Ballistic Missile Defense OPIR Architecture to start in FY 2024. - Mature integrated digital model: support SSC's role as the mission area integrator, perform resiliency analyses, baseline future requirements, and assess performance against current and new targets. On contract as of May 2021. The total cost of the Tranche 1 (T1) Tracking Layer Middle Tier of Acquisition effort is $2,745.400 million, including RDT&E and procurement of prototype units. The T1 Tracking Layer RP program is fully funded across the Future Years Defense Program. This program element may include necessary civilian pay expenses required to manage, execute, and deliver MW/MT capability. The use of such program funds would be in addition to the civilian pay expenses budgeted in program elements 1206392SF and 1206398SF. This program 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: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2025
• Source ID: 657124_1206448SF_5_3620F_PB_2025

Tags

Readers

• Aerospace Engineering.

Technology Areas

• Fully Networked C3
• Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control
• Hypersonics
• Space
• Space - Satellites