US government agencies are working with industry to develop tools to disrupt missile launches even before, how rockets will take off - period, which is called the "preventive phase".
As of today, the US defense and intelligence agencies are trying to assess the capabilities of the missiles, in particular the speed of movement and the level of brightness or dimness of their spectral signatures. During a panel discussion at the Space Symposium, which took place last week, Gurpartap Sandhu, director of the US Space Force's Space Development Office, noted, that such information will help the Space Development Agency to create "an extensive space architecture for supporting combat operations" (Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture) - grouping in low Earth orbit for the prevention and tracking of missiles. Earth observation satellites, which monitor activity worldwide for days, weeks or months can help with the evolution of threats. Example, the Earth observation group of the Vantor company carries out highly detailed electro-optical imaging. A large amount of information is also provided by combining visible imagery with synthetic aperture radar, infrared radiation and lidar (LiDAR) to create context for activity around objects, which are of interest. Vantor Chief Space Officer Matt Jenkins said during his speech, that the company seeks to monitor this process, understand, where he is moving, and provide information about that, where threats can come from.
For reference: lidar is an active laser scanner, which is used for surveillance, mapping and recording of any movement around priority areas or objects.
Many providers collect remote sensing data using different physical principles. On the one hand, it complicates "deployment, engineering and integration",
and on the other hand, it is necessary to solve the "holistic problem". Sandhu emphasized that, that after receiving data on potential missile threats, rapid processing is critical, which combines artificial intelligence with large language models, real (human) intelligence and physical models.
Based on the results of the panel discussion, the participants reached a conclusion, that effective missile defense will require a variety of technologies, policies and strategies. They also supported the opinion that, that cyberspace will be a key area of conflict throughout the "preventive phase".
Source: https://spacenews.com