spacetoday.net: Boeing spysat program behind schedule, over budget

Posted: Thu, Dec 4, 2003, 12:51 PM ET (1751 GMT)
A program to develop a new generation of reconnaissance satellites is well behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, the New York Times reported Thursday. The Future Imagery Architecture (FIA), being developed under contract by Boeing, has fallen over a year behind schedule, the Times reported. In addition, the Defense Department has been forced to shift $4 billion from other programs to fund cost overruns in FIA. Boeing won the FIA contract in 1999, upsetting Lockheed Martin, which had developed previous generations of spysats, promising to develop a new generation of spacecraft for $6 billion. A review of FIA by the Defense Science Board uncovered a number of serious problems with the program, but the board deemed FIA too critical to national security to cancel the effort. In particular, MSNBC noted, the board judged FIA to be "technically flawed" and "not executable" as currently conducted. Experts are concerned that continued delays could create gaps in intelligence of key regions of the globe.