Lockheed Martin has handed over control of the first on-orbit space based infrared system sensor payload for detecting ballistic missile launches to the Air Force, the company announced Aug. 5. The Air Force will commence formal operations with the payload—dubbed HEO-1 because it resides on a classified intelligence satellite in highly elliptical orbit—later this year after completing a final independent assessment, the company said. The second sensor payload, HEO-2, is also on orbit on a different host spacecraft—in this case, over the northern hemisphere—and is expected to begin operations by early 2009, the company said. Its performance in early on-orbit checkout has met or exceeded specifications, Lockheed Martin noted.
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.