spacetoday.net: Pentagon to phase out use of GEO missile warning satellites

Posted: Sun, Sep 25, 2022, 8:46 AM ET (1246 GMT)
The Defense Department plans to stop buying geostationary orbit missile warning satellites as it shifts to constellations in lower orbits. Space Development Agency (SDA) Director Derek Tournear said Wednesday that the DoD would gradually transition from GEO satellites, like the SBIRS series, to constellations in low and medium Earth orbits. Current satellites and next-generation GEO missile warning satellites slated to launch later in the decade are expected to be in service as late as the middle of the century, though. Tournear's comments came a day after the Space Force's top acquisition executive, Frank Calvelli, said DoD can no longer afford billion-dollar satellites that on average take seven years to develop.