Jerry Petersen
Booz Allen Hamilton is proposing a concept satellite constellation meant to contribute to the ability of the U.S. to defend itself against missile attacks, SpaceNews reported Thursday.
Brilliant Swarms
The envisioned constellation, dubbed Brilliant Swarms, comprises up to 2,000 satellites spread across 20 orbital planes. A hundred satellites would be positioned per plane circling the Earth in polar orbits at altitudes of between 300 to 600 kilometers.
The satellites would operate together using artificial intelligence and machine learning and work to detect the various missile threats articulated in President Donald Trump’s executive order on the establishment of an “Iron Dome” defense system for the U.S. These threats include ballistic and hypersonic missiles as well as drones.
The same satellites would also work to defeat those threats by descending from orbit and slamming into their targets.
Complementary System
According to Trey Obering, a former director of the Missile Defense Agency and currently a senior adviser at Booz Allen, the development and fielding of Brilliant Swarms could cost approximately $25 billion. In comparison, existing missile defense systems focused on North Korea and Iran cost $65 billion.
Booz Allen expects to be able to demonstrate the system’s ability to intercept a cooperative target in orbit within three years and an uncooperative one in four. The company also projects full deployment in five to seven years.
Booz Allen Executive Vice President Chris Bogdan noted, however, that the system is meant to complement rather than compete with other similar Pentagon programs.
“It’s important to feed into the overall system, especially for the ground based interceptors and the other layers of the missile defense system,” Bogdan said, adding, “We don’t see this as a replication of what they’re doing. We see it as a complementary capability.”
The proposed constellation has already been pitched to the MDA.
