Resilient Missile Warning Missile Tracking - Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)

Mission — Resilient MW/MT - MEO source

The United States Space Force Space Systems Command and Space Development Agency are collaborating to deliver Overhead Persistent Infrared capabilities, in concert with Department of Defense and Intelligence Community partners, to support a proliferated space architecture that is resilient by design and capable of operating through contested environments. Resilient Missile Warning/Missile Tracking - Medium Earth Orbit space and ground efforts pivot the Department of the Air Force's legacy missile warning force design to a more resilient multi-orbit approach to counter advanced missiles, hypersonic glide vehicles, and fractional orbital bombardment threats. Missile Warning, Missile Tracking Medium Earth Orbit was originally anchored in Missile Warning and Missile Defense Capability Development Document requirements validated by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council; there is now a Joint Requirement Oversight Council-approved Capability Development Document Annex with very specific Medium Earth Orbit and Low Earth Orbit requirements. Constellation resiliency is foundational to the Department of the Air Force's Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking force design, therefore, the Overhead Persistent Infrared Family of Systems, including Missile Warning, Missile Tracking Medium Earth Orbit, is designed to work cohesively to gain and maintain custody of a spectrum of missile threats. The Medium Earth Orbit 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 Missile Warning, Missile Tracking Medium Earth Orbit will bolster legacy Space Based Infrared Satellite and Next-Gen Overhead Persistent Infrared capabilities and will independently satisfy mission area Capability Development Document requirements for missile tracking by as early as FY 2033. FY 2026 funding supports final build, test, and delivery of flight payloads and buses to support Epoch 1, space vehicle level assembly integration and test, and launch/early orbit operations. FY 2026 funding also includes ground activities previously captured in PE 1206448SF, Project 657124, that continue ground segment Mission Data Processing application development and integration, command and control software and facilities build and integration into the Medium Earth Orbit Space Operations Center, and ground entry point site construction to support on-orbit initialization in FY 2027. In order to preserve Epoch 1 schedule and avoid additional costs, the Program Executive Officer approved the transition of the space segment development to a single vendor as of September 2024. Space Systems Command, Space Development Agency, and the Missile Defense Agency will continue to use the Combined Program Office construct to develop and implement a system-of-systems integration strategy across for Missile Warning, Missile Tracking and Missile Defense constellations supporting Low Earth Orbit, Medium Earth Orbit, Geosynchronous Orbit and Polar Orbit regimes. Resilient Missile Warning, Missile Tracking Medium Earth Orbit Epoch 1 is now comprised of a single space vendor and multiple ground lines of effort to include the following: -Space vehicle development efforts are currently underway with Millennium Space Systems with the potential delivery of up to twelve space vehicles. -Delivery includes: design, build, hardware integration, testing, delivery, launch vehicle integration, space vehicle. -Launch & early orbit operations, calibration, tuning, flying, and delivery of formatted two-dimensional tracks into the Real-Time Transfer Service for incorporation with other sensors data necessary for warning/tracking requirements and operations. -Mission Data Processing and unique ground software on contract as of December 2022. -Perform the integration of the space vehicles into the operations center for command and control at the Boulder Ground Innovation Facility (BGIF). -Develop integration command and control and Mission Data Processing software to operate constellation of Medium Earth Orbit space vehicles for supporting multiple collection layers. -Additional ground applications for ground resource management and sensor tasking will be included as part of the Operations and Integration contract and transition to the Ground Management and Integration contract in support of Epoch 2. -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.The antennas for Epoch 1 are on contract as of December 2022 and will be located at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, and Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. An additional antenna at Clear Space Force Station, Alaska will be modified to support Epoch 1 ground contacts. Additional overseas locations are being considered to ensure Ground Entry Point availability, communication diversity, and mission assurance. -Test, assess, and validate sensor performance on the ground and on-orbit to ensure track data is integrated by Program of Record data and fusion operational programs such as Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) (PE 1206440SF), Ballistic Missile Defense Overhead Persistent Infrared Architecture, other classified partners and missions, research and development multi-intelligence fusion (PE 1206442SF), and intelligence characterization. Space vehicle 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 Overhead Persistent Infrared Architecture started in FY 2024. -Mature integrated digital model: support Space System Command'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 Epoch 2 acquisition began in FY 2025 and will continue in FY 2026 with the acquisition of additional planes of missile warning and tracking space vehicle capability (total number of space vehicles depend on source selection); managing up to two prime vendors delivering space vehicles as well as Ground Command and Control and Mission Data Processing software. The program will leverage the FORGE framework and Boulder Ground Innovation Facility for both operations and underlying hardware and software framework services and will continue the tasking and fusion architecture that began in Epoch 1 for Epoch 2 acquisitions. Furthermore, Epoch 2 will continue to manage a ground management & integration contractor to assist with on boarding space craft and vendor operations into the BGIF. Epoch 2 will expand upon the current Ground Entry Points to procure additional antennas necessary to support space vehicle planes. Finally, Epoch 2 will also continue the use of model-based systems engineering and digital models to ease integration. FY 2024 35.000M Recission is not captured due to a database error. The FY 2026 cost of the Resilient Missile Warning/Missile Track - Medium Earth Orbit (MW/MT - MEO) Epoch 1 Middle Tier of Acquisition effort is reflected in the budget request, including RDT&E and procurement of prototype units. The Department will certify Future Years Defense Program funding in a future budget request. The total cost of the MW/MT - MEO Epoch 2 Middle Tier of Acquisition effort is 3,846.5M, including RDT&E and procurement of prototype units. The MW/MT - MEO Epoch 2 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 Missile Warning, Missile Tracking 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.

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (2)