Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition policy and guidance indicate that such planning is important throughout a system's life cycle, and GAO has reported on leading commercial companies' practice of planning for technology insertion prior to the start of a program. Limited prior investment in technology development and planning for insertion also limited the number of feasible options for adding new technology into SBIRS GEO satellites 5 and 6. According to the Air Force, implementing changes at that stage would require contract modifications and renegotiations and incur additional cost and schedule growth. It occurred after the Air Force had approved the acquisition strategy and while negotiations were ongoing to procure production of the two satellites. The assessment came too late to be useful for SBIRS GEO satellites 5 and 6. The Air Force estimated that inserting new focal plane technology would result in cost increases and schedule delays ranging from $424 million and 23 months to $859 million and 44 months. While technically feasible, neither option was deemed affordable or deliverable when needed. The Air Force assessed the feasibility and cost of inserting new digital infrared focal plane technology-used to provide surveillance, tracking, and targeting information for national missile defense and other missions-in place of the current analog focal plane, either with or without changing the related electronics. However, the assessment was limited in the number of options it could practically consider because of timing and minimal early investment in technology planning.

The Air Force assessed options for replacing older technologies with newer ones-called technology insertion-in the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellites 5 and 6.

Sbirs geo 5 and 6 spacex