The Air Force and Lockheed Martin reconfigured the on-orbit Milstar constellation—altering the relative positions of the five communications satellites to each other to provide better coverage. A Lockheed release says a combined team of company engineers and airmen of the 4th Space Operations Squadron at Schriever AFB, Colo. conducted the reconfiguration over a seven-month period. Lockheed noted that the ability to realign operational satellites—with “no unplanned service disruptions to military forces deployed around the globe”—would be useful in the transition to the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites. The first AEHF sat is slated for launch in 2008.
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…