Congress has expressed “concern” about the ability of the Air Force and industry to “manage expensive and complicated satellite programs such as Space Radar.” Lawmakers wrote in the 2006 defense spending bill that there is “broad agreement” that USAF should, in a word, slowdown. As with TSAT, they want “greater emphasis on maturing technologies” and, even, more work on “existing radar assets (such as airborne surrogates).” They didn’t kill Space Radar (once called Space-Based Radar), just cut it sharply and asked for a spending plan.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
