Fourth SBIRS Satellite to be Bought
[two SBIRS radomes were built at Menwith Hill in 1998]
The Pentagon has decided to go ahead and buy a fourth satellite for the troubled Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), a satellite network intended to replace the 1970s-era Defense Support Program constellation. SBIRS originally was planned to have five satellites, but cost growth and technical difficulties prompted a revamp in 2005 and a new acquisition goal of three satellites. The Pentagon has changed its mind and will try to slowly get back to the original plan of eventually buying five satellites for SBIRS. Says Col. Roger Teague, the Air Force’s SBIRS wing commander, “Procurement of this fourth satellite will complete the SBIRS constellation that was initially envisioned.” In addition to revamping SBIRS, the Air Force started another system for the SBIRS mission called the Alternative Infrared Satellite System (AIRSS), which over the past year has become the Third Generation Infrared Surveillance System (3GIRS). No word on how this fourth satellite will affect the other satellite systems’ structures.
