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SBIRS Problems Persist: New Sats Needed

By Colin Clark Monday, September 14th, 2009 4:49 pm
Posted in Intelligence, Policy, Space

Persistent hardware and software problems that have dogged the Space Based Infrared System for almost two years have not yet been solved, Air Force Space Command Gen. Robert Kehler told reporters at the Air Force Association’s annual conference.

Kehler did not speak to the issue of cost. But the general made clear he agrees with the Senate Appropriations Committee that some alternative to SBIRS must be started. “It’s time for us to have a follow-on,” he said. SBIRS, he said, “has been a very difficult development.”

The Senate Appropriations Committee agrees with Kehler that a new generation missile warning capability is needed. The report accompanying the spending bill said the committee “remains concerned over the development challenges that the Space-based Infra-Red System [SBIRS] Geosynchronous Earth Orbit [GEO] satellites continue to encounter.” It notes that the program is more than eight years behind schedule and will cost “at least” $7.5 billion more than its original cost estimate. “Due to chronic problems and the importance of missile warning for national security, the Committee supports the Third Generation Infra-Red Surveillance program in order to ensure that development funding is being invested in missile warning capabilities,” the report said. The SAC-D added $104 million to the administration’s budget request of $39 million.

SBIRS faces a serious software glitch involving its fail-safe mechanisms, or how the satellite decides to go into safe mode in the event of a serious problem. “The progress on that has been good, and the program director is telling me he has a lot of confidence in the software fixes that are currently undergoing testing,” Kehler said. The general also said that the satellite faces mechanical problems that persist, including issues with a gyroscope.

The last effort to replace SBIRS, first begun in 2005, was for something called the Alternative Infrared Satellite System (AIRSS). Congress, willing to consider the need for a replacement satellite, thought the Air Force was taking a road that was far too technologically risky and unlikely to get up soon enough to actually plug the gap that everyone was worried about. It looks as if that no longer is the case.

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	DD September 14th, 2009 at 5:21 pm I was at the AFA conference this morning. I went in the exhibit hall and walked up to the SBIRS program booth to see what they had in the way of swag (not much) and the woman behind the table said in a cheerful voice “Good morning! Do you know anything about the program?” Without skipping a beat I replied “Like that it is eight years behind schedule and $8 billion over budget?” She wasn’t pleased with my comment and replied through a forced grin “It’ll be worth it.” I felt slightly bad about being a jerk to the nice lady, but then I got home and read this article.
	JS September 14th, 2009 at 5:40 pm Colin, I was under the impression that 3GIRS was also a replacement/next generation system for SBIRS. It should be noted that 3GIRS received a huge boost by the Senate Appropriators: +$104M.
	Colin Clark September 14th, 2009 at 6:48 pm JS, 3GIRS is Third Generation Infra-Red Surveillance is AIRSS is.…. as best I can tell.
	LM September 15th, 2009 at 9:27 am What’s that picture of? Because it’s certainly not SBIRS GEO.
	Colin Clark September 15th, 2009 at 9:49 am It’s the closest pic I could find of a similar function. The SBIRS Geo is hosted payload and I don’t know what the sat looks like…
	Brian W September 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am The pic is of a DSP satellite, which was the older (but still active) IR constellation in GEO that SBIRS-GEO was slated to replace. SBIRS originally was going to have three constellations — one in GEO, one in HEO, and one in LEO. Two of the HEO birds have been launched and are working great, but as Colin said they are hosted payloads riding on “other satellites” whose identities have not been revealed. So no pics. SBIRS-Low, originally envisioned as dozens of satellites, got separated out, massively restructured, and renamed Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) which is now an MDA Program: http://www.nti.org/e_research/official_docs/mda/mda13004_stss.pdf SBIRS-High was supposed to have 4 satellites in GEO to complement the HEO ones and these are the satellites that are still way behind schedule and over budget. However, since they are performing largely the same mission as DSP did, I would think they would be generally the same shape (a rotating cone).
	DensityDuck September 21st, 2009 at 1:19 pm Brian: SBIRS High is a staring sensor. DSP uses a scanning line sensor, which was why the s/v rotated (the line sweeps over the visible hemisphere during the rotation.) Colin: There are many images of SBIRS GEO (aka “SBIRS High”) out there. Although I don’t know if there is any particular copyright status you’re looking for. DD: God forbid YOU ever experience requirements creep.
	bill September 25th, 2009 at 8:02 am There are more people identifying problems than people who can solve them. The “A” team is gone, retired and now we have the “lets study this” team in place. It’s easy to study problems try solving them. The SPACE X people are the only team that seem to be moving forward on anything. The big DOD companies continue to suck up dollars and provide services of cost overrun, behind schedule, and inferior products when they are delivered. It’s time for a total reboot of our SPACE programs. Stop paying the losers and open up the competition and reward the winners.