Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass., has added a system called Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below to the repertoire of the E-8 Joint STARS to enable the ground surveillance aircraft to “see” friend vs. foe. The Army uses the system to get updates on the location of friendly troops in near real time by continuously transmitting actual locations over the network, and then sends progress reports to a tactical operations center. Five Joint STARS aircraft now have laptop computers that will receive regular updates from the FBCB2 system. Using special software, the laptops will send the data to the E-8 mission operator consoles. ESC plans to outfit the remainder of the fleet, starting this spring.
United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket is slated to fly its second national security mission in February—nearly six months after its first operational launch and almost a year after it was certified to fly military payloads for the Space Force.
