ULA’s Vulcan Centaur needs one more successful flight test to be certified to carry payloads to orbit under the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch program.
By Theresa HitchensInsights on digital transformation following successes on B-21 and Sentinel
Customers and employees are experiencing the ‘Butterfly Effect’ of digital transformation from key national security programs.
The planned launches, which will take place starting in FY26, include sending a second SILENTBARKER watchdog satellite jointly developed by the service and the National Reconnaissance Office to geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO).
By Theresa Hitchens
“This is a broad and in a way campaign-like approach to strengthening our own supply chain and enabling multiple sources, really for even beyond our company for our industry, which I think is important,” Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet said of his firm’s endeavor to field a new solid rocket motor supplier.
By Michael Marrow
Interested companies have until Dec. 15 to respond to the service’s dual requests for proposals: one for the critical, high-dollar NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 launches; and the other for Lane 1 small launches.
By Theresa Hitchens
While Space Systems Command hasn’t publicly expressed concerns, outside observers point out that there is a real possibility that only Elon Musk’s SpaceX will be able to undertake National Security Space Launches in the next few years.
By Theresa Hitchens
Spy satellites, classified payloads among the newly scheduled launches.
By Theresa Hitchens
“And as weird as that sounds, you know, from an industry guy, I absolutely need regulation and enforcement,” said Tory Bruno, CEO of rocket maker ULA. “Because one bad actor can ruin that entire common environment for all of us.”
By Theresa Hitchens
Enterprise-wide training: the Army’s $3.5B program for multi-service combat readiness
The competition for Warfighter Training and Readiness Solutions will bring together training networks, combat training centers and live ranges across the DoD enterprise.
“We developed an acquisition strategy consisting of a dual-lane approach that provides access to diverse commercially available systems,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, Space Force’s acquisition lead for space launch.
By Theresa Hitchens “Key for us is allowing on-ramps, allowing for some smaller launches to have a chance,” a senior Space Force official told Breaking Defense, in order to avoid billion-dollar “Titan-era prices.”
By Theresa Hitchens
Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond said should a year-long continuing resolution come to pass, the disruption for sat launches would “ripple” for years.
By Theresa Hitchens
Included among the STP-3 mission’s payloads is NASA’s Laser Communication Relay Demonstration (LCRD) aimed at enabling higher speed communications across the vast region of space between the Earth and Mars.
By Theresa Hitchens
“Hopefully we’ll be all right and they (ULA) won’t have any additional scheduled steps. But I think the strategy has actually been demonstrated to be a good thing,” Air Force Frank Kendall says.
By Colin Clark
WASHINGTON: Hot on the heels of an agreement between the Air Force and the FAA to streamline regulations on space launches from military ranges, the head of one of the biggest US launch providers has called for penalizing companies that violate the safety clauses of FAA launch licenses. “The regulations that FAA applies, and the licensing…
By Theresa Hitchens
Space acquisition reform so far has been focused on “small dollar” activities, with most big-ticket programs such as NSSL stuck in the bad old ways, says a new report by Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.
By Theresa Hitchens
