Air Force Undersecretary Sega describes the new “fighter block” plan for the Transformational Satellite as a series of confidence-building steps. He told lawmakers last week, that the Air Force recognized that there were some parts of the program that were “a bit behind” as far as being technologically mature while others were “doing well.” The service consulted war fighters, he said, to determine what they needed when and that led to pushing some technologies, such as the “higher-end laser capabilities as well as the advanced processor router,” out to later blocks. The initial blocks will have a router and laser comm, just not “at the sophistication as was originally envisioned,” said Sega. The Air Force plans a number of demonstrations over the next 12 months to test the Block 1 technologies. Sega, who also serves as the DOD executive agent for space, says that TSAT overall system design review should take place in April 2007. If the technology proves out, he said, there should be a request for proposals on the space segment in May 2007.
While the Space Force is still making long-term plans to establish high-fidelity live and virtual test and training ranges in the coming years, officials say they're also working with operators to identify near-term gaps and quickly field capabilities to address them.
