SBIRS Moves Forward: Lockheed Martin has completed development of the interim operations software for the Highly Elliptical Orbit payloads of the Space Based Infrared System. The company already has delivered the two HEO payloads under its current contract, which also includes delivery of two geosynchronous Earth orbit satellites, the first of which is slated to launch in 2008. Lockheed officials called development of the HEO interim operations software a “significant milestone” since this ground-based component of SBIRS “expedites processing of missile warning and technical intelligence data.” Elements of the SBIRS ground segment have been providing data since 2001, when operations began at the consolidated mission control station at Buckley AFB, Colo.
The F-47 fighter will be run differently than previous fighter programs and share the same mission systems architecture as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. That means advances in one will fuel advances in the other.