KH-11 Kennan - Program History and Logistics

Program History and Logistics

The Film Read-Out GAMBIT (FROG) served as NRO Program A's competitor to NRO Program B's initial electro-optical imagery (EOI) satellite.

Data is transmitted through a network of communications satellites; the Satellite Data System. The initial ground station for the processing of the electro-optical imaging was a secret National Reconnaissance Office facility in Area 58, located in the continental United States according to the NRO, and more precisely in Fort Belvoir according to other sources.

In 1999, NRO selected Boeing as the prime contractor for the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) program, aimed at replacing the KH-11 satellites by a more cost effective constellation of smaller, and also more capable reconnaissance satellites. After the failure of the FIA in 2005, NRO ordered from Lockheed two additional legacy hardware KH-11s. USA-224, the first of these two, was launched in early 2011 two years ahead of the initial schedule estimate.

In January 2011 NRO offered NASA two space optical systems with 2.4 m diameter primary mirrors, similar to the Hubble Space Telescope, yet with steerable secondary mirrors and shorter focal length resulting a wider field of view. These could either be spare hardware from the KH-11 program, or optics from the cancelled FIA program. The satellites were reportedly stored in a clean room facility at ITT Exelis in Rochester, NY.