WASHINGTON — The Missile Defense Agency confirmed that a national security space mission that had been projected to launch in December 2023 is being delayed until the second quarter of 2024 as a result of technical issues with one in every of the spacecraft.
“One vendor’s space vehicle was able to support a December 2023 launch; nevertheless, the launch was delayed to no sooner than the second quarter of fiscal 12 months 2024 as a result of technical issues encountered by the opposite vendor during final integration testing,” MDA spokesman Mark Wright said in a press release.
MDA’s national security mission, designated USSF-124, includes six satellites designed to trace hypersonic missiles. 4 of the satellites are missile-tracking sensors made by L3Harris for the Space Development Agency’s Tracking Layer constellation. The opposite two satellites — one made by L3Harris and the opposite by Northrop Grumman — are a part of MDA’s Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) program.
The Tracking Layer is envisioned as a world network of sensors to supply a defense shield against Russian and Chinese ballistic and hypersonic missiles. While SDA’s satellites are for tracking hypersonic threats, the HBTSS has sensors designed to take care of high-fidelity tracks of the threats, and at hand off the info to interceptor missiles that might try to shoot them down.
Each the Tracking Layer and HBTSS are pieces of a planned multi-layered missile-defense architecture. The hearth control technology that HBTSS is looking for to display is required to give you the chance to intercept hypersonic weapons.
SDA and MDA decided to mix their payloads for efficiency. The 4 L3Harris Transport Layer satellites were originally scheduled to launch in September with other SDA satellites but were taken off the manifest as a result of production delays.
MDA didn’t disclose which of the 2 HBTSS payloads is having technical issues. A source near SDA said “any delay at this point is just not related to the L3Harris” Tracking Layer satellites.
USSF-124 will launch to a low orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Fla.
Congressional scrutiny
The joint MDA-SDA launch comes as congressional defense committees proceed to pressure the Pentagon to make clear the responsibilities of every agency in terms of missile tracking.
“Hypersonic defense is critical to our national security, and bureaucracy shouldn’t get in the best way,” said Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), chairman of the House Armed Services’ strategic forces subcommittee. “I look ahead to continuing to work with MDA and SDA to make sure HBTSS is fielded expeditiously,” he said in a social media post.
Some lawmakers have suggested SDA, which was established in 2019 to rapidly develop and launch next-generation space capabilities, should take over the mission entirely from MDA. Others argue MDA must retain that authority as a result of its a long time of experience tracking ballistic missiles.
Kelley Sayler, a defense analyst on the Congressional Research Service, noted in a report earlier this 12 months that one in every of the problems to look at is how MDA and SDA work together despite the fact that they report back to different bosses. MDA is a component of the office of the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, whereas SDA reports to the U.S. Space Force chief of space operations, and to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and Integration.
“Congress may monitor the implications of this reporting structure for efficiency and efficacy,” Sayler wrote.