C4ISRNET

A space sensor layer represents a central component of both reinvigorated attention in space operations and the reality of renewed great power competition. Unfortunately, the current pace for acquiring it is something less than the speed of relevance. Despite frequent statements of support from the Pentagon, its realization faces architectural, budgetary and institutional impediments.

The emergence of hypersonic missiles is an important feature of renewed strategic competition. Over the past 15 years, Russia and China invested in these new kinds of strike systems, which pose a different kind of threat to U.S forward forces, bases and power projection. Hypersonic glide vehicles and scramjet cruise missiles are designed to circumvent both intercept by missile defenses and detection by satellites that support strategic warning.

The indispensable requirement for contending with hypersonic threats is the ability to see them. Whereas the highly predictable arc of a ballistic missile requires a shorter period to determine its trajectory and impact point, the flight path of a maneuvering hypersonic missile is decidedly unpredictable. Continuous, birth-to-death tracking is therefore necessary to maintain custody of the threat, whether to determine its target, hand off information to interceptors to try to engage it or simply to provide strategic warning so U.S. forces can attempt evasion. Doing so over the horizon demands sensors in space.

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