The Missile Defense Agency has just received its second Space Tracking and Surveillance System Block 2006 sensor payload, built by Raytheon and delivered to STSS prime contractor Northrop Grumman. The agency expects to launch two STSS satellites with Block 2006 sensors, built from refurbished flight demonstration hardware, in late 2007 and to receive missile warning data as part of the nation’s growing Ballistic Missile Defense System over their two-year lifespan.
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.