Hopes for the survival of the US Air Force's Space Based Radar (SBR) programme are being pinned on a new plan adopted late last month that emphasises the design's critical links to other US intelligence-gathering systems. The new plan was drafted by a tiger team formed to present recommendations on SBR changes to US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Porter Goss, director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Details of the options outlined in the new plan have not been disclosed, but a goal to better integrate the SBR into the wider US intelligence network is expected to scale back an earlier plan to launch 64 spacecraft. The programme remains in the concept development stage, says Col Ted Cope, deputy director of the SBR joint programme office, who says the programme is now focused on designing a simpler and more affordable space-based surveillance system.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
