Inside Defense:
The Missile Defense Agency has rebranded the Missile Defense Tracking System — a space-based sensor network envisioned to track enemy long-range ballistic and hypersonic missiles from launch to impact — the Space Sensor Layer program and plans to brief industry this month on a second round of technology prototyping for the desired orbital capability.
Early last year, MDA tapped the fledgling, Air Force-created Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) to launch a prototyping campaign using other transaction authority for a capability the agency told Congress was the top unfunded priority in MDA’s fiscal year 2019 budget request.
In April, SpEC — acting on behalf of MDA’s Space Systems Program Office — awarded nine contracts for the Missile Defense Tracking System (MTS) Phase I Prototype Concept Design phase. At press time, neither MDA nor SpEC would identify the companies awarded these contracts.
Now, MDA is readying plans for a follow-on project — which adopts the Space Sensor Layer name for the former Missile Defense Tracking System, according to a Dec. 26 Federal Business Opportunities.
