Northrop Grumman announced Monday that the Missile Defense Agency’s two Space Tracking and Surveillance System demonstration satellites have done what no space-based sensors have done before: track ballistic missiles in flight over their entire flight trajectories. This is dubbed “birth-to-death” tracking. “This is the first time a space-based sensor has tracked a ballistic missile through all phases of its flight, from launch, through midcourse, and re-entry,” said Doug Young, Northrop’s vice president for missile defense and warning. The satellites accomplished the feat by following target missiles launched during two tests of the Navy’s Aegis ballistic missile defense system in March in the waters off of Hawaii. MDA is using the Northrop-built STSS satellites, on orbit since September 2009, to validate the feasibility of space-based sensors to support shooting down ballistic missiles.
The Air Force achieved its goal of recruiting 32,750 Active-Duty enlisted Airmen for 2026 five months ahead of schedule, military officials said this week—its biggest recruiting year in more than two decades.