Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) was a program to design a new generation of optical and radar imaging US reconnaissance satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). In 2005 NRO director Donald Kerr recommended the project's termination, and the optical component of the program was finally cancelled in September 2005 by Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte. FIA has been called by The New York Times "perhaps the most spectacular and expensive failure in the 50-year history of American spy satellite projects."[1]
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The development contract for FIA was awarded to a Boeing team in late 1999,[2] and was estimated to possibly reach a value of US$25 billion over the ensuing twenty years.[3] The exact scope and mission of the program are classified, although the head of the NRO said in 2001 that the project would focus on creating smaller and lighter satellites.[4] Some industry experts believe that a key objective is to make the satellites more difficult to be attacked, possibly by placing them in orbits farther above the Earth. Because of the large size and budget of the program, as well as number of workers involved, some experts have compared it to the 1940s Manhattan Project.[4] In September 2005 the contract was shifted to Lockheed Martin after cost overruns and delays of the delivery date.[5] Lockheed was asked to restart production of an older satellite system with new upgrades, with first deliveries expected to be in 2009.[1] In September 2010 NRO director Bruce Carlson stated that while most NRO "(...) programs are operating on schedule and on cost (...)", one program is "(...) 700 percent over in schedule and 300 percent over in budget".[6]
A first launch possibly related to the FIA was the USA 193 satellite in 2006[7], which failed and then was destroyed by a missile. Another launch connected to the FIA program by some analysts [8]is NROL-41 (USA 215) launched on 21 September 2010. It is in a retrograde 1100 x 1105 km orbit inclined by 123 degrees[9], an orbital configuration indicating it is a SAR satellite.[10] USA-224, launched on 20 January 2011, is believed to be the first of the large post-FIA optical reconnaissance satellites built by Lockheed [11].
The failed FIA program is to be succeeded by the Next Generation Electo-Optical (NGEO) program. NGEO is intended as a lower-risk modular system, which is capable of being modified incrementally over its lifetime.[12]
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