The US Air Force has accepted Lockheed Martin's upgraded ground system for Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning satellites.
"The Block 10 system includes upgrades like faster collection times, improved threat detections and improved target tracking and infrared information to see dimmer events faster," according to a Lockheed Martin news release.
"Operational Acceptance of the SBIRS ground system consolidates the Air Force's command and control of legacy Defense Support Program satellites, SBIRS geosynchronous Earth orbit satellites and highly elliptical orbit payloads into the same ground system," Lockheed Martin said. "SBIRS Block 10 also improves cueing data for missile defense systems and allows for command, control and mission planning of taskable sensors, as well as real-time and offline raw sensor data processing for technical intelligence used by the intelligence community."
"With the Block 10 upgrade, the mission-critical data supplied by SBIRS is now being managed from a single ground control station, which is not only cost-efficient, but also more effective in providing our Air Force operators with the ability to characterize threats and quickly provide that information to military commanders deployed around the globe," said David Sheridan, vice president of Lockheed Martin's Overhead Persistent Infrared systems division.
