A Titan IVB booster carrying a US military satellite was launched from Vandenberg air force base, California, on 5 October.
A second was due for launch by an Atlas IIAS five days later. Both satellites, the launches of which were planned before the 11 September attacks, will enhance US military support for the war on terrorism. Three Russian military satellites are also due for launch by the end of this month.
From a study of the Titan IVB launch azimuth, it is believed that the two-stage launcher carried an Advanced KH-11 Keyhole high resolution optical reconnaissance satellite, capable of taking images as small as 120mm (4.7in).
The satellite, which resembles an Earth-pointing Hubble Space Telescope, is a likely replacement for a six-year old KH-11.
A Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS booster operated by International Launch Services was scheduled to be launched from Complex 36at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on10 October on a US Air Force mission called Aquila, carrying a data relay satellite into geostationary orbit.
The satellite is expected torelay real-time reconnaissance satellite images to the National Reconnaissance Office and field locations, or it could be a signals intelligence satellite.
An earlier Atlas IIAS launch from Vandenberg on 8 September carried what is thought to have been a Space Based Wide Area Surveillance Systems satellite.
The first of three planned military satellite launches by Russia this month took place on 6 October when a Proton K booster carried a Raduga military communications satellite into geostationary orbit from Baikonur.
A missile early-warning satellite was planned for launch on11 October, while later in the month a reconnaissance spacecraft is set to be launched by a Soyuz booster.
Source: Flight International
