WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- The Japanese Parliament Tuesday formally agreed to permit the deployment of space surveillance satellites as part of the country's ballistic missile defense program.

As we noted earlier this month in these columns, that decision marks a highly important reversal of more than a half-century of Japanese policy refusing to contemplate taking any action to militarize space.

The Diet, the lower and main house of the Japanese Parliament, formally approved the legislation that will remove exclusive control of space policy from the country's Technology, Space and Education ministries. Space policy will now be shaped by the entire Cabinet, the legislation says.

Significantly, it also included a provision to set up a space policy task force that will report directly to the prime minister. Effectively, that will be the thriving center that shapes national space policy in the future with the education, space and technology ministries sidelined to provide only input.

And with the whole Japanese Cabinet now designated by the legislation to carry the responsibility of making space policy collectively, the three old civilian ministries now will be outweighed by the heavy clout of Japan's Defense Ministry, which only last year was upgraded from agency status to having its own Cabinet minister.

As expected, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda easily carried the legislation through the Diet, supported by its coalition ally Komeito and the main opposition group, Minshuto -- the Democratic Party. Only the Communists and some pacifist members of the Parliament voted against the legislation.

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ULA wins SBIRS launch contract

United Launch Alliance has won a deal to fire the U.S. Air Force's strategically crucial Space Based Infrared Systems Geo-2 satellite into space, Satellite Today announced Friday.

The SBIRS program is regarded as crucial to give adequate warning of threatening ballistic missile launches against the United States or its allies anywhere in the world. It also will provide essential data to allow U.S. ground-based mid-course interceptors and eventually other systems to intercept and destroy such threats.

The program has suffered many delays and cost overruns, but recent news has been good and the SBIRS system is currently scheduled to be launched into space between December 2010 and March 2011.

According to the Satellite Today report, citing a ULA announcement, the SBIRS systems will be carried into orbit on a ULA Atlas 5 booster.

An earlier SBIRS spacecraft is due to be fired into orbit late next year, the report said.

The Geo-2 satellite will be launched into geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above the Earth, allowing it to maintain its position over its broad, predesignated surveillance area continually.

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Lockheed Martin bids for SASSA contract

Lockheed Martin said Tuesday it sent the U.S. Air Force its bid to build the Self-Awareness Space Situational Awareness system program.

The Air Force is scheduled to decide who will run the $30 million SASSA program later this year. SASSA designates "a technology demonstration payload that will provide tactical space situational awareness," Lockheed Martin said in a statement.

"SASSA is being developed to demonstrate the ability to build a standardized threat warning system and communicate relevant information to operators on the ground," the company said.

Lockheed Martin said it sent its proposal to the Space Superiority Systems Wing of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, based at Los Angeles Air Force Base.

"Space situational awareness is a top priority for our customer, and Lockheed Martin is proud to support this important initiative," said Phil Bowen, director of Surveillance and Intelligence Systems at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. "We have offered a solid technological solution and are well-equipped to help the Air Force successfully achieve their SASSA objectives."