The Space and Missile Systems Center’s Remote Sensing Systems Directorate has successfully completed a critical test of the Space Based Infrared System’s new consolidated ground system. During the test, crews from the 460th Space Wing sent live mission messages to the Block 10 floor for the first time, according to a press release. Block 10 is the unified mission control center for the SBIRS. “This is a full function test flight of our new ground system, where our airmen conduct full warning and detection functionality combined with intensive spacecraft command and control of all three of our spacecraft constellations. This was our shakedown cruise,” Col. John Wagner, commander of the 460th Space Wing, said in the release. The Integrated Test and Evaluation Readiness Soak was the last test before formal evaluation of the Block 10 Increment 2 system by the Air Force’s Operational Test and Evaluation Center. The Air Force finished the capability evaluation phase for the system in December.
In the wake of a major Chinese military shakeup, the head of U.S. Space Command warned of China’s “breathtakingly fast” advances in space during visits to Japan and South Korea. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting’s trip to the Indo-Pacific is his first overseas visit since taking command of SPACECOM in January.