SBIRS, FIA opticsat programs
- From: "Allen Thomson" <thomsona@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 1 Aug 2005 11:21:56 -0700
There must be some sort of conservation principle
working here...
Space News This Week: August 1, 2005
NEWS DIGESTS:
Missile Warning System Costs Again Rise Over 25 Percent
The U.S. Air Force is expected to notify Congress
shortly that the cost of its new missile warning
satellite system has risen again by more than 25
percent, a move that will trigger a review that
includes a look at alternatives to the program,
according to industry officials and congressional
aides.
Air Force officials had informed Congress in March
that the price tag for the Space Based Infrared
System (SBIRS) likely would rise by at least 15
percent due to new cost estimates on the third
through fifth satellites.
SBIRS, consisting of four geosynchronous-orbit
satellites, one spare spacecraft, sensors hosted
by two classified intelligence satellites in
highly elliptical orbit, and ground equipment,
initially was expected to cost about $2 billion.
But by late 2004, the Air Force's cost estimate
had grown to $9.9 billion. The satellites,
originally scheduled to start launching in 2002,
now are expected to launch no earlier than 2008.
The military services are required by a law known
as the Nunn-McCurdy provision to conduct reviews
of programs whose costs rise by 25 percent to
justify their continuation based on their
importance to national security, evidence that the
problems that led to the cost growth are under
control, and the lack of viable alternatives.
SBIRS underwent such a review in 2002, but the
Pentagon chose to continue the program, albeit
with more high-level oversight.
Maj. Brenda Campbell, an Air Force spokeswoman,
said that service officials declined to comment on
the matter at this time.
Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the
Lexington Institute in Washington, said the Pentagon
likely will come to a similar conclusion this time
around given the need to start replacing the
existing Defense Support Program missile warning
constellation late next decade. The SBIRS satellites
are under construction by Lockheed Martin Space
Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif.
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), meanwhile,
finds itself in a similar situation with the Boeing-
led Future Imagery Architecture spy satellite
program, which is once again running into cost and
schedule issues, Thompson said. The most recent
problems, which are with the system's electro-
optical satellites, have forced the agency to
begin a study on the program's future, Thompson
said.
[Since the EO satellites are apparently all that's
left of FIA, this sounds fairly significant.]
Rick Oborn, an NRO spokesman, declined to comment,
citing the classified nature of the Future Imagery
Architecture.
.
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