The nation’s two Space Tracking and Surveillance System demonstration satellites are ready to participate fully in ballistic missile defense system tests following completion of on-orbit sensor calibration, according to prime contractor Northrop Grumman. The company, together with infrared sensor payload provider Raytheon, finished the calibration tests late last year, states a Northrop release. “We are confident that upcoming tests involving STSS will generate the kind of quality of data that will validate our projections of the value of space-based sensors for missile tracking,” said Doug Young, Northrop’s vice president of missile defense and warning programs. The Missile Defense Agency launched the satellites into low-Earth orbit in September 2009 to test their missile-tracking capabilities. STSS, noted Young, is “the only system capable of tracking ballistic missiles through all phases of [their] flight.” (See also Another On-Orbit Success for STSS from the Daily Report archives)
Active-Duty Airmen only have a few days left to submit an official waist-to-height ratio into the Air Force’s new online application. But the service clarified July 23 that this first body composition measurement is not meant to be scored as part of the new Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment, or PFRA