They will make it possible to detect launches earlier than ground-based means
As part of the US Space Force's USSF-124 mission, a Falcon 9 rocket was launched with a group of new American satellites to track hypersonic missile launches.
The launch took place on Wednesday at 17:30 local time on the US East Coast (Thursday, at 01:30 Moscow time) from the US Space Force launch site at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Earlier, the US Department of Defense announced its plans to launch satellites into low-Earth orbit to monitor hypersonic weapons. It was planned to deploy two satellites of the HBTSS (Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor) supersonic and ballistic missile tracking system, as well as four military reconnaissance vehicles.
HBTSS satellites will detect hypersonic and ballistic missiles, as well as other potential threats, earlier than is possible from ground-based assets. A series of tests are planned to be carried out in the coming weeks to test and confirm the functionality of the satellites. On-orbit testing is expected to last two years.
The development of satellites for HBTSS is carried out by the American military-industrial companies L3Harris Technologies and Northrop Grumman, which in 2021 received $122 million and $155 million from the Pentagon for these purposes, respectively.