Shields Up: Hypersonic Threat Spurs Investment in Space-Based Missile Tracking.

• Author: Roaten, Meredith

The Space Force is racing against the clock to prepare for the rapidly advancing Chinese and Russian missile technology that could evade the Pentagon's existing ground and space-based missile-detection systems.

While many defense agencies have their own ideas for warning-and-tracking satellites and space architecture, they need to integrate their visions to ensure the Defense Department has time to react to a potential missile attack, experts said.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and ongoing operations in the region reinforces that "the era of missile warfare is definitely upon us," said Chris Stone, the author of a recent policy paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Weapons like the Chinese DF-17 and the Russian Avengard hypersonic boost glide weapon could sneak under the radar of the missile warning systems that were designed for ballistic missiles, according to the paper "Orbital Vigilance: The Need for Enhanced Space-Based Missile Warning and Tracking."

"These lower altitude fliers and the others that can maneuver create challenges to our ability to sense," he said during a rollout event for the paper. That means it could be easier for Beijing and Moscow to strike with conventional missiles or long-range missiles with nuclear warheads attached, he said.

The great power competitors "could cripple the operations of foreign deployed U.S. forces and their theater bases," said Kevin Chilton, a former commander of Strategic Command. Space organizations need to team up to create a more accurate, survivable space ecosystem, he said during the event.

The current missile tracking architecture consists of satellite technology called Space-Based Infrared Systems, or SBIRS. But hypersonic missiles exploit the curvature of the Earth to go high enough to avoid ground-based radar tracking and low enough to be missed by the infrared tracking technology.

The hypersonic threat is great enough that service leaders at the highest levels are taking notice.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said space architecture is one of the service's funding priorities. The Space Force submitted a $1 billion request for the 2023 budget to fund the resilient missile warning/missile tracking capabilities, a constellation of satellites designed to detect hypersonic technology and is expected to reach initial operating capability by 2027.

"We're also doing things in the Space Force on the nuclear warning and missile warning side to get to more resilient missile warning" to support the armed forces, Kendall said at a recent Hudson Institute event.

The service is also...