The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) successfully delivered the sixth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellite (SBIRS GEO-6) to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on June 2nd.
The SBIRS GEO-6 space vehicle, marked to complete the SBIRS constellation, was safely transported from the Lockheed Martin Space facility in Sunnyvale, California, to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, aboard a C-5M Super Galaxy.
The SBIRS team based at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, and the flight crew from the 60th Air Mobility Wing based at Travis Air Force Base, California, worked together to ensure the safe and timely transportation of the satellite.
The SBIRS constellation provides persistent infrared surveillance to support missile warning, missile defense, battlespace awareness, and technical intelligence. As part of the end- to-end missile defense strategy, the data provided enables combatant commands and coalition partners, the intelligence community, and the Missile Defense Agency to ensure the security of the U.S. and its allies.
As the last satellite to join the SBIRS constellation, the launch of SBIRS GEO-6 marks the end of the SBIRS development program. SSC’s Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (NGG) system, currently in production, will enhance and eventually replace SBIRS satellites.
Next Gen OPIR will be the first indicator when any missile is launched and the backbone of the nation’s deterrence; providing war-winning performance and resilient missile warning capability against counter-space and emerging missile threats.
the sixth Geosynchronous Earth Orbit Space Based Infrared System satellite (SBIRS GEO-6) from a C-5M Super Galaxy at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., June 2, 2022. The satellite was taken to a processing facility to undergo testing and fueling prior to encapsulation. GEO-6 is expected to launch in July 2022 and is the last SBIRS program launch.
U.S. Space Force photo by Walter Talens.
“This delivery represents a major milestone for the SBIRS program and is a critical step towards putting SBIRS GEO-6 on-orbit for the warfighter. It represents long-term collaboration between the Space Force and a combined team of Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems, The Aerospace Corporation, multiple support contractors and government personnel,” said Maj. Matthew Blystone, SSC’s SBIRS GEO-5/6 production program manager. “Our near-peer adversaries continue to evolve missile technologies to be more lethal and more difficult to detect; SBIRS allows us to continue outpacing those threats.”
“SBIRS satellites are the first line of defense, providing early warning, launch detection, and notifications to national leaders and theater warfighters,” said Col. Daniel Walter, senior materiel leader for SSC’s Strategic Missile Warning Acquisition Delta. “For example, in January 2020, the SBIRS constellation detected the launch of over one dozen ballistic missiles by Iran as retaliation for the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani. Space Force operators at the 2nd Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado, successfully detected the launch and provided early warning for personnel at Ayn al Asad Airbase, Iraq, to seek shelter. As a result, U.S. and coalition forces sustained zero casualties and only minor infrastructure damage. This is one of many examples of the Missile Warning/Missile Tracking/Missile Defense (MW/MT/MD) systems supporting combatant commanders and warfighters real-time.”
Space Systems Command, headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California, is the U.S. Space Force’s field command responsible for rapidly developing, acquiring, equipping, fielding and sustaining lethal and resilient space capabilities. SSC mission capability areas include launch acquisition and operations, communications and positioning, navigation and timing, space sensing, battle management command, control and communications, and space domain awareness & combat power