US Air Force Failing To Track, Control Satellites Despite $1.7Bln Spending - Report

The US Air Force still lacks the capability to adequately track and control satellites in orbit after already spending $1.7 billion on a modernization program to do so, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th June, 2023) The US Air Force still lacks the capability to adequately track and control satellites in orbit after already spending $1.7 billion on a modernization program to do so, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Thursday.

"The $1.7 billion the Department of Defense already spent to replace SPADOC (Space Defense Operations Center) and provide modern systems has not delivered needed capabilities to the warfighter and Space C2 (the replacement modernization program) continues to struggle," the report said.

Between 2000 and 2022, the Department of the Air Force spent over $1.7 billion to replace its systems that track and control satellites, the GAO acknowledged. The Defense Department began the Space C2 program in 2018 to improve space command and control activities but it has suffered major delays and still failed to deliver key capabilities, the report said.

"Space C2 is taking steps to refocus, but its plans still appear optimistic; and it is far from certain that Space C2 will deliver ATLAS (Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System) by the fall of 2023 ... Space C2's November 2021 program office cost estimate for these efforts is not reliable and raised concerns with the program's schedule that persist," the GAO said.

Current US satellite tracking systems are well beyond their expected service lives and Space C2 is now introducing additional risk to its development because the program lacks information that shows how it plans to address ongoing or incomplete work along with future work to meet requirements, the report said.