A team of Air Force researchers and industry engineers have completed a major system-level test of the interfaces between the first space based infrared systems satellite and the satellite’s ground segment. The Air Force anticipates launching this SBIRS satellite, designated GEO-1, in early 2011. This test successfully demonstrated that the SBIRS ground segment will be able to command and control GEO-1 using a modem called the tri-band antenna/modem suite, said officials in the SBIRS program office at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., in a July 29 release. Among the additional test objectives achieved, the team demonstrated the ability to transmit and receive data between GEO-1 and the ground systems using rapidly changing frequencies, a process known as “frequency hopping,” they said. This test took place over two days.
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.