Our Air Force’s space-based missile warning program has a robust history stemming from the 1960s through the present. As these programs have evolved over the decades, their continued presence demonstrates their necessity to ensuring our national defense.
The United States’ first true operational satellite defense program was known as the Missile Defense Alarm System. Initiated in 1958, MIDAS began with the first of nine launch attempts of infrared missile warning satellites in February 1960, but only achieved mission success on two of them–MIDAS 7 on May 9, 1963 and MIDAS 9 on July 18 of the same year. These satellites attained orbit cycles of 44 days and 11 days, respectively, and gathered enough data during their brief operational life to convince top officials of the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense to pursue a follow-on program for enhanced infrared satellite missile detection. The requirements for this program led to the creation of the Defense
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