SBIRS

The Space-Based Infrared System is a United States Space Force system intended to meet the United States' infrared space surveillance needs through the first two to three decades of the 21st century. The SBIRS program is designed to provide key capabilities in the areas of missile warning, missile defense and battlespace characterization via satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit, sensors hosted on satellites in highly elliptical orbit, and ground-based data processing and control. As of January 2018, a total of ten satellites carrying SBIRS or Space Tracking and Surveillance System payloads had been launched: SBIRS GEO-1, SBIRS GEO-2, SBIRS GEO-3, SBIRS GEO-4, SBIRS HEO-1, SBIRS HEO-2, SBIRS HEO-3, STSS-ATRR, STSS Demo 1 and STSS Demo 2. The manufacturing contract for SBIRS GEO-5 and SBIRS GEO-6 was awarded in 2014, with the two satellites scheduled for delivery to the Space Force in 2021 and 2022.

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