PortolanBearings Network · FreeMissile Warning & Tracking
Missile Warning is the mission of detecting, tracking, and characterizing ballistic missile, hypersonic glide vehicle, and cruise missile launches in near-real-time, then disseminating warning + trajectory data to national leadership, missile-defense systems, and allied partners. The sensor architecture spans geostationary infrared satellites (SBIRS, Next-Gen OPIR), proliferated LEO layers (Space Development Agency Tracking and Transport), and terrestrial radars. Modern missile warning must also track dim, maneuvering hypersonic vehicles that thermally dim during glide — a very different problem from the DSP-era threat set the mission was originally built around.
- 1SenseIR + radar detection of launch heat + trajectory.
- 2IdentifyDistinguish missile class, threat vs training.
- 3TrackMaintain custody across sensor handoffs.
- 4CharacterizeEstimate trajectory, impact zone, threat level.
- 5WarnDisseminate to leadership + AMD systems.
Missile warning is the first link in the kill chain for both strategic deterrence and homeland missile defense. Every interceptor engagement — from THAAD to GMD to Aegis — depends on an accurate track from missile warning sensors within seconds of launch. The mission has become dramatically harder in the last decade as hypersonic glide vehicles, low-observable cruise missiles, and simultaneous saturation launches from multiple adversaries compress the sensing + decision window from minutes to seconds.