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Faster, more precise enemy attacks, especially those traveling through space, will need a new-generation of space-integrated sensors and faster, more precise interceptors. 

byKris Osborn

The prospect of long-range hypersonic attacks, new precision-guidance ballistic missiles and even next-generation ICBMs has inspired the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency to pursue new space-based sensors to track and destroy faster, more lethal incoming missile attacks traveling beyond the earth’s atmosphere.

The initiative is based on the concept that faster, more precise enemy attacks, especially those traveling through space, will need a new-generation of space-integrated sensors and faster, more precise interceptors. 

“You can’t shoot what you don’t see. Providing that sight are sensors and radars aboard ships, on the ground and in space.” Missile Defense Agency director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Washington D.C., according to a Pentagon report.

For instance, satellite-integrated sensors will enable U.S. defenses to help develop a “continuous track” on approaching threats without needing to rely more purely on segmented radar fields of view. This can be made possible by two clear things, including a larger number of satellites and space-based sensors themselves.