The Space Radar, contracts for which were canceled in 2008, and which has been a very quiet topic since then, is apparently a healthy though highly classified program, and may even have some operational components. Bruce Carlson, National Reconnaissance Office director, told the Daily Report in an interview that “we think we have solved that problem. And I think we’ve convinced most people in the [intelligence] community that we’ve solved that problem.” All Carlson could say about its status is that there is “a solution.” When asked if it’s “an overhead,” meaning a satellite, he replied: “It’s a system we can operate, yes.” Carlson did acknowledge that “it cost a lot of money. It wasn’t on time, but now we’re there. We’ve got the technical solution, we’ve got the produceability.” He added that a solution is in hand “for the next few years. Now, you can’t rely on just one solution forever, but we think we’ve got that problem behind us.”
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.