The Tactical Satellite-3 launched in May has completed critical calibration and is now “focused on conducting experiments and supporting demonstrations,” said Dr. Thomas Cooley, TacSat-3 program manager with Air Force Research Lab’s Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M. TacSat-3 entered its calibration phase in June and would have finished up sooner, but Cooley said, “We opted to continue the calibration phase longer than normal to work through the various tactical modes and fine tune the primary payload’s sensor.” Now, he said, the program will concentrate on employing the small satellite’s three payloads to provide tactical data to warfighters. (Kirtland report by Michael Kleiman)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.