The US Missile Defense Agency will obtain 22 sensor systems in orbit to monitor whether incoming missiles have been destroyed by interceptors. By the end of 2017, the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will have 22 sensor systems in orbit to monitor whether incoming missiles have been destroyed by interceptors, MDA Director Vice Admiral James Syring told a US Senate hearing on Wednesday.

"We started this year, and by the end of next year there'll be 22 payloads fielded on a commercial satellite constellation," Syring told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. "[F]or classification reasons I'll just leave it at that."

The sensors would allow the MDA to experiment and demonstrate a "space base[d] kill assessment capability," Syring continued. "It's a small step, but it's a necessary step to prove what a function in space can be done persistently and globally," he explained.

The sensors, Syring argued "will be an important risk reducer as the department decides what we are going to do in the future in space for missile defense." The MDA is developing an experimental network of space-based sensors that would be launched in commercial satellites, and they verify whether incoming missiles have been destroyed by defensive interceptors, Space News reported in 2015.

US Air Force Announces New Vision to Defend Space Against Attacks
A new vision for the US Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) will defend US space enterprises against emerging threats, AFSPC Commander Gen. John Hyten said.

Hyten explained that the vision will enhance the US space forces' ability to deter attacks and defend space systems against an attack if deterrence fails.

"The [Space Enterprise Vision] SEV accounts for the increasing threat to space systems, and provides a vision for how the Air Force should build a force responsive to that threat," Hyten stated on Tuesday in announcing the SEV at the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.

The SEV is also intended to contribute to the defense of allied space systems, he noted.

The SEV will involve an integrated approach across all space mission areas, such as communications, navigation, missile warning and weather data, according to the statement.

An August 2015 study found that the US space enterprise is not resilient enough to withstand a conflict that extends to space. The SEV is intended to address those findings and increase military preparedness across the Air Force Space Command.

Source: Sputnik News