COLORADO SPRINGS—The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has been experimenting with components of systems that could contribute to a ground moving target indication (GMTI) mission from orbit, and the office’s director expects a launch of prototypes within the next year.
The NRO and the U.S. Air Force have been collaborating on how to move the GMTI mission—traditionally served by aircraft such as the Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Stars—to space using satellites that can serve the intelligence role of the office along with warfighting needs of the Air Force.
The mission has become a top priority of Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who has directed $841 million in new funding in the fiscal 2024 budget request to the mission along with $3.5 billion in funding for existing programs.
Kendall has said the Air Force is co-funding the GMTI systems with the NRO, since it is easier and more cost-effective to collaborate than to develop independent systems for similar roles.
NRO Director Christopher Scolese told reporters April 18 at the Space Symposium here that his office will develop relevant systems to the requirements that they are given, in collaboration with the Space Force and Space Command. For GMTI, the office will “have prototypes up there so that we can practice before we get the operational system on orbit.”
The NRO has conducted some prototyping work already with systems on orbit that are representative of a full prototype to be launched within the next year. Scolese did not specify, but this could include systems such as those that provide power and cooling along with different apertures and other components that would be integrated in a full GMTI sensor.
“We’ve done some prototyping, which is on orbit as we speak, that have demonstrated that technology ... Now we’re in the process of actually going into manufacturing and will start launching within the next 8-12 months,” Scolese says, adding that there will be “a lot of launches.”
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