Space Force advancing on-orbit tracking for airborne and ground-based targets

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Space Force is making headway on two efforts the service says will modernize how the Defense Department tracks airborne and ground-based moving targets.

The first Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator (SB-AMTI) prototypes will be launched into low-Earth orbit before the end of September, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink announced Monday. The upcoming mission comes after the Space Force tapped SpaceX in May to field an operational constellation by 2028.

“We are applying the same approach to proliferating constellations. One example is our space-based interceptor program, which moved from initial contract to flight-ready hardware in less than one year,” Meink said during AFA’s annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference. “We are launching our AMTI — or our air-moving target indication constellation — this month.”

The Space Force is also making progress on a separate Space-Based Ground Moving Target Indicator (SB-GMTI) constellation known as the Resilient Radar System-Ground (RRS-G), Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, head of the Space Force’s Combat Forces Command, told reporters Wednesday.

“Our need as a joint force to track mobile targets is essential to war-winning capabilities — whether those moving targets are on the ground, on the sea, or in the air — because of the advancements of weapon systems for countries like Russia and China with their air defense systems,” Gagnon said during a media roundtable on the sidelines of the AFA conference.

Moving fast on AMTI

MTI is a surveillance operation that uses advanced sensors to continuously detect and follow both airborne and terrestrial-based targets. Traditionally, the Air Force has been responsible for conducting the missions using manned airborne warning and control system (AWACS) platforms — such as the legacy E-3 Sentry — or unmanned aircraft like the MQ-9 Reaper.

But Pentagon officials have stressed that U.S. adversaries are continuing to field advanced air-defense systems that can put surveillance platforms at risk. Enemy aircraft, drones and missiles have also become faster and harder to detect.

“Our aircraft can’t get close enough to develop those tracks with enough custody on the track to be able to engage it. Because if we move the aircraft closer … those aircraft will be at significant risk,” Gagnon said. “The solution to that problem is to elevate your sensing layer from the air and the aircraft to outer space.”

The Space Force has been forthcoming about progress on the AMTI constellation, as well as the service’s intent to move quickly. Along with the $4.16 billion contract awarded to SpaceX earlier this year for an initial operational capability, the Space Force has three additional companies on the program working to demonstrate novel sensing technologies.

The service already has demonstrator satellites on-orbit to reduce technical risk and inform the larger acquisition effort. Those systems are still in space and have helped prove out the constellation’s underlying capability, according to Col. Ryan Frazier, the acting portfolio acquisition executive for space-based sensing and targeting.

“We’re very confident in the capability that those systems can provide, and that’s providing some heritage and brought down a lot of risk to help inform the big contract award of a few months ago to SpaceX,” Frazier said Tuesday during a media roundtable on the sidelines of the AFA conference.

The first AMTI satellites going into orbit will not immediately provide the global coverage the Space Force ultimately wants, he added. Instead, the initial launches will create data the service can use to refine the broader architecture needed to operationalize space-based sensing.

As more satellites are deployed, the Space Force expects to use the resulting data to refine the processing, battle-management and targeting architecture needed to incorporate space-based technology for aircraft tracking into the Pentagon’s operations, Frazier said.

The Space Force sees AMTI as a complementary capability for the planned E-7 Wedgetail AWACS aircraft, which has been delayed multiple times due to funding disruptions and manufacturing hurdles from prime contractor Boeing.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglass Schiess told reporters Tuesday that the combination of air- and space-based sensing will offer greater resiliency and additional options for maintaining situational awareness in contested environments.

“In a contested environment, [SB-AMTI] allows us to be able to get into the fight as soon as possible,” Schiess said. “We talk about resiliency all the time, so that we’re able to accomplish a mission and not necessarily rely on one platform. And if you think about the E-7 and AMTI — it’s almost like dual phenomenology.”

Overall, the ultimate value of SB-AMTI will be in how its data is integrated into the broader military decision-making process, he said.

“It’s all about the data,” he said. “It’s getting the data to the right person to make the right decisions from a battle management perspective, whether that’s airborne moving target or ground moving target.”

Gagnon said the tracks created by the constellation will be passed to fire-control elements within the military services. Those elements can combine the space-based tracks with information from other sensors and intelligence sources before making decisions about weapons engagements.

“Our responsibilities in Combat Forces Command is to run the sensing layer that is in outer space as a military surveillance capability,” Gagnon said. “That military surveillance capability will feed the joint force to improve their awareness, but also afford them the opportunity to intercept, negate, and disrupt adversary air forces.”

Resilient Radar System-Ground

As it prepares to launch the SB-AMTI prototype, the Space Force is concurrently working with Northrop Grumman to get its Ground Moving Target Indicator program on orbit “within the next two years,” Gagnon said.

The constellation has been named Resilient Radar System-Ground (RRS-G), and the satellites will be able to track terrestrial objects like tanks, surface ships and mobile troops. Because the targets move slower than airborne assets, the sensors onboard GMTI platforms are required to cover wider surface areas and filter out stationary clutter on the ground.

In August, the Space Force established its first space-based sensing and tracking unit known as the 77th Surveillance Squadron. Gagnon said the unit was created to “start the process of ground moving target indicator” missions.

However, the service expects to start off by consolidating surveillance operations for both air and ground-based moving target operations because, despite the different phenomenologies, both missions have similar characteristics, he added.

“It’s just different sensing layers. It’s all sensing from space, but it’s sensing targets on different layers, whether they’re maritime, on the ground, or in the air,” he said.

The Space Force is co-developing the GMTI constellation alongside the National Reconnaissance Office. The service is expected to act as the lead military operator, while the NRO will be responsible for satellite command and control, sustainment and ground architecture.