Defense Support Program
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Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites and associated ground facilities are an aging system of space-based infrared sensors that detect the intense heat of missile launches and nuclear explosions. They do not form images, but are electro-optical MASINT sensors that measure the intensity and wavelengths of radiation in a grid of locations on earth (i.e., spectroscopic MASINT), based on an idea first proposed in 1948[1] In the program, the first satellite was launched in 1970 and the last in 2007.[2] They are due to be replaced by two variants of the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), one in satellite orbits#geosynchronous orbit|geosynchronous orbit as is DSP [3] Their precessor was the prototype Missile Defense Alarm System (MIDAS).[4] DSP has gone through a variety of names, as has the SBIRS system. Renamed called the Satellite Early Warning System (SEWS) in 1999, DSP remains the best-known name, as the descendant of several generations of spacecraft,[5] which are operated by the Fourteenth Air Force. Originally, DSP was known by the classified name Program 949, and, after that became known, Program 647. The fUSSR/Russia|Russian Prognoz spacecraft has been described, by US sources, as having similar capabilities to DSP.[6] Originally intended to detect the intense heat of an ICBM launch, this system proved useful at a theater level in 1990-1991. It detected the launch of Iraqi SS-1 SCUD missiles in time to give early warning to potential targets. References
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