Defense Support Program: Ground Station Upgrades Not Based on Validated Requirements

Abstract

This report summarizes our review of whether planned upgrades costing up to $95 million to Defense Support Program (DSP) ground processing stations are supported by validated operational requirements. DSP is a strategic surveillance and early warning satellite system. It is premature to upgrade DSP ground stations because the Air Force has not completed validation of operational requirements as required by Department of Defense (DOD) Instruction 5000.2 and Air Force Regulation 57-1. We also found that including global processing capability in the upgrades may not be cost-effective. Global processing would enable the Air Force to process data generated by the total DSP satellite constellation network at a single ground station. However, Air Force officials stated there are no corresponding plans to reduce the number of ground stations. This factor, together with the incomplete requirements process, raises considerable doubts about the Air Force's plan to spend a total of $95 million at this time to upgrade the stations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 21, 1993
Accession Number
ADA265632

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Facilities
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Computers
  • Congress
  • Cost Effectiveness
  • Costs
  • Department Of Defense
  • Ground Stations
  • National Security
  • New Mexico
  • Satellite Constellations
  • Stations
  • Surveillance
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering.
  • Defense Financial Management and Audit.
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Satellites