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U. S. to Launch Next-Generation Missile Defense Satellite

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Department: 
Military Tech
Teaser: 

"The U.S. military will take a big step toward upgrading the nation's missile-defense system next week, when it launches the first in a constellation of next-generation satellites."

Link: 

Satellite Launch on Friday to Boost U.S. Missile Defense

Source: 

SPACE.com Download time: May 6 2011 8:18 AM ET

The United States military will take a big step toward upgrading the nation's missile-defense system this week, when it launches the first in a constellation of next-generation surveillance satellites.

On Friday (May 6), the Air Force will launch GEO-1, the first of four new satellites planned under the Space-Based Infrared Systems (SBIRS) program. SBIRS will significantly improve the country's missile-warning and missile-defense capabilities, and it will also provide enhanced technical intelligence to  fighters on the ground, Air Force officials said.

"Once launched and fielded, GEO-1 will bring the dawn of a new era in persistent overhead surveillance," Brigadier General-select Roger Teague, head of the Infrared Space Systems directorate at Los Angeles Air Force Base's Space and Missile Systems Center, told reporters last Tuesday (April 26).…

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