The Space Force plans to launch satellites that can track vehicles and ships within the next year, a senior official said, and eventually use that work to figure out how to track airborne targets from orbit.

The ground moving target indicator mission, known as GMTI , is a joint effort between the Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office to help the military track targets on the ground from space—a mission handled until 2023 by the aging, airborne E-8 JSTARS fleet.

The service has already launched some “initial satellites” to enable GMTI, such as radar satellites and communications satellites to allow the satellites to transfer data, but the “actual GMTI satellites” will launch in the next year, said Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, a

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