General Says Sensors Pinpointing Missile Threats Worldwide Are Critical Capability

Home / Articles / External / Government

Source: U.S. Department of Defense, https://media.defense.gov/2017/Jun/08/2002829480/-1/-1/0/170503-F-XX999-101A.JPG
Source: U.S. Department of Defense, https://media.defense.gov/2017/Jun/08/2002829480/-1/-1/0/170503-F-XX999-101A.JPG

August 18, 2021 | Originally published by U.S. Department of Defense on August 11, 2021

“I would like to have overhead sensors that see everything, characterize everything that goes on on this planet, from a missile perspective, all the time, everywhere. That’s the one capability I would like to have because you have to be able to see it to do anything about it. And that’s a challenge for hypersonics and cruise missiles; that’s a challenge for short range; that’s a challenge for ballistics; that’s a challenge for everything that we have,” Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten today told attendees of the Space & Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama.

“That technology has been available for years now,” he said.

“We have to get there, and we should be able to get there quickly because that technology is not difficult. In this case, it’s a bureaucratic challenge more than anything else, but I’d love to have that sensor capability but we need that space layer,” he said, noting that the Missile Defense Agency and Space Development Agency are now working on a space layer architecture.

Focus Areas