With zero fanfare, the Air Force recently revised its fact sheet on the Space Radar, which became defunct in 2008, at least to the public eye. The revised fact sheet states that the program is envisioned as a constellation of nine satellites “providing worldwide coverage” and yielding five kinds of surveillance products: synthetic aperture radar imagery; surface moving target indication—both ground and ocean target movement detection and identification; open-ocean surveillance to detect ships; high-resolution terrain information, yielding 3-D topographic maps; and “advanced products” in the realm of geospatial intelligence. The Space Radar will “profoundly change the nature of global persistent ISR” and provide enhanced global deterrence “through the mere threat of observation,” states the document, posted in late February.
Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr. assumed leadership of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, succeeding Navy Adm. John Aquilino at a change of command ceremony, urging action amid China's “increasing intrusive and expansionist claims,” on May 3