Faced with a perfect storm of looming coverage gaps and congressional skepticism of its long-term weather satellite strategy, the U.S. Air Force says it has decided to launch a long-stored legacy satellite despite an internal recommendation against doing so. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told members of the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee April 29 that the service will proceed with the launch of the final Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite to partially address a looming coverage gap over the Middle East and surrounding regions. Air Force officials also said the service plans to tap its Operationally Responsive Space Office to build a small satellite that would launch in 2018 to replace ocean wind data now provided by the aging Windsat satellite. The ORS Office is responsible for building and deploying space capabilities quickly in response to emerging military needs.
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