Northrop Grumman has completed two ground test milestones for the Space Tracking and Surveillance System, taking the Missile Defense Agency-run program closer to its 2008 launch date. The site for the final ground segment acceptance test was Schriever AFB, Colo., culminating work begun more than two years ago, according to a company release. Schriever also was the site for the readiness test, a 72-hour event that proved the ground system could operate the first two STSS satellites. The system successfully demonstrated surveillance, detection, tracking, and reporting of a simulated test target launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.