US Space Force launches first batch of Silent Barker spy satellites

News, US September 13, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

After announcing a few details about the Silent Barker mission last month, the U.S. Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) launched the first batch of spy satellites on September 10, 2023, in a largely classified mission. The Silent Barker mission was launched to keep an eye on China and Russia’s space activities.

The mission was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida through a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying an unknown number of satellites.

The Atlas V launch is expected to be one of the two launches to deploy the initial constellation of the Silent Barker satellites. Although the exact number of satellites is classified, the constellation will be operational by 2026.

The launch was initially planned for August 29 but was delayed at the last minute due to weather conditions. “Working together, we’ve developed a system in a relatively short amount of time that is going to provide us with unprecedented coverage of what’s going on in the GEO belts,” NRO director Christopher Scolese told reporters during an August 28 pre-launch briefing.

“This capability enables indications and warnings of threats” against high-value US systems and will “provide capabilities to search, detect, and track objects from space for timely threat detection,” the Space Force said in a statement.

Check out liftoff photos from this morning’s #AtlasV #SILENTBARKER/#NROL107 launch by ULA in our Flickr album! https://t.co/YtCaGDbouq pic.twitter.com/PRY54K80QD
— ULA (@ulalaunch) September 10, 2023

ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs, Gary Wentz said in a statement, “We’re grateful for the opportunity to continue to build on a legacy of outstanding teamwork and collaboration with our national security partners.” Wentz added that ULA specializes in “complex high-energy orbits” and the whole team is proud to have launched the latest mission direct to geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) to meet U.S. space protection needs.

Once operational, the Silent Barker constellation would operate in the geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth. Up till now, the U.S. Space Force has been relying upon ground-based sensors to observe space assets. With the mission of Silent Barker, the U.S. Space Force and NRO would reinforce their space tracking capabilities, particularly in the geosynchronous orbit.

In 2020, then-Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond revealed that two Russian satellites were trailing a U.S. satellite and called the behavior “unusual and disturbing.”

Silent Barker mission

Originally announced in 2017, the collaborative and classified mission between the U.S. Space Force and the NRO is a response to China and Russia’s increasing space surveillance capabilities. The mission aims to replace the U.S.’s aging constellation of Space-Based Space Surveillance Systems, which is set to complete its service age in 2028.

A 2022 U.S. Defense Intelligence report unveiled that China used its SJ-21 satellite to push another of its satellites away from orbit. The same report also stated that China’s Sijian-17 satellites are equipped with a robotic arm that could be used for grappling other satellites and disturbing their orbits.

Atlas V Rocket Silent Barker space mission — *^{Atlas V rolled out to Space Launch Complex-41 for the launch of the Silent Barker space surveillance mission. (Image Credit: Twitter/@ulalaunch)}*

In congressional testimony earlier this year, the head of U.S. Space Command chief Gen. James Dickinson revealed that China’s increasingly advanced satellite technology is posing a great risk to U.S. space missions.

Dickinson said in congressional testimony in March 2023, that China’s SJ-21 satellite “could clearly serve in a counter space role and hold our geosynchronous satellites at risk.” He added that the U.S. Silent Barker can track China’s SJ-21 as well as “detect or discover new objects”.