The U.S. Space Force has declared operational acceptance of the Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System (ATLAS) designed and built by L3Harris. Photo: L3Harris

The U.S. Space Force Space Operations Command’s (SpOC) Mission Delta 2 unit is now ready to employ the L3Harris Technologies Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System (ATLAS), the service said on Tuesday.

“The operational acceptance decision was based on a comprehensive assessment of ATLAS’ capabilities, performance, and readiness for operational deployment,” according to the Space Force. “This achievement follows a trial period that focused on demonstrating ATLAS’ ability to deliver against legacy capabilities, and a successful effort by the Space Force Program Executive Office Battle Management, Command, Control, Communications, and Space Intelligence, Space Systems Command and Space Operations Command.

Lt. Col. Laurel Jodice, the commander of the 18th Space Defense Squadron under SpOC Mission Delta 2, said in the Space Force statement that ATLAS will allow Space Force to execute “highly complex space domain awareness operations” more rapidly.

Omitron and Parsons Corp. have been subcontractors to L3Harris on ATLAS, which is to replace the Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC), established in 1979 at the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado.

In February last year, former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration Frank Calvelli said that he was convening regular sessions to right some space programs, including ATLAS. By the end of last year, however, Calvelli noted progress on ATLAS, and the Space Force projected that ATLAS would reach initial operational capability this month.

Initially, Space Force expected to field a SPADOC replacement by mid-2021. The Pentagon’s Directorate of Operational Test & Evaluation’s fiscal 2023 report said that a subsequent fiscal 2023 planned fielding of ATLAS “was slowed by delayed capability delivery, system stability problems, lack of trained operators, and non-operationally representative test environments.”

While L3Harris received its initial $53 million contract in October, 2018 for ATLAS, the latter program went unnoticed until 2021.

Ed Zoiss, the president of space and airborne systems at L3Harris, said in a Tuesday statement that the Space Force’s operational acceptance of ATLAS “aligns with Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman’s top priorities at the Space Force to help ensure space superiority.”

“The Space Force requires timely, accurate and relevant information to avoid operational surprise, and ATLAS meets this demand by providing essential and actionable space domain awareness,” Zoiss said.

This story was first published by Defense Daily