Theresa Hitchens is the Senior reporter, Space at Breaking Defense. The former Defense News editor was a senior research associate at the University of Maryland’s Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM). Before that, she spent six years in Geneva, Switzerland as director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).
A sci-fi geek, voracious reader, enthusiastic cook, dabbler in poetry, Theresa is also the proud mom of a wonderful young man by the name of Nicholas.
"Vertical integration is at the heart of this combination – the ability to build, launch, and operate our own spacecraft quickly and cost-effectively," a Rocket Lab spokesperson told Breaking Defense.
Three Chinese rocket bodies have exploded over the last four years, creating dangerous debris that "will linger for decades to centuries, potentially colliding with other space objects," LeoLabs study author Darren McKnight told Breaking Defense.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping adversarial cyber operations at machine speed, requiring defenders to increase operational tempo while imposing pain and cost.
Set to be launched "no earlier" than 2031 and 2032, the new satellites will extend the life of the MUOS constellation through 2035, according to SSC.
The memorandum of understanding with Vantor marks the third partnership Rheinmetall has signed in recent months in the military space domain.
The RFI tags on-orbit manufacture/ assembly as one area of interest, along with enabling tech for very low Earth orbit operations.
The new Scout-S radar will remain operational after Valiant Shield ends July 1, and already is contributing data to LeoLab's space monitoring network, the company said.
As missions stretch farther and comms grow less reliable, predictive software could become the edge that keeps missions afloat.
The new venture, Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions, includes four German space startups as "initial" partners.
The two awards are collectively worth $437.7 million, according to the Space Systems Command press release.
"The NRO is at the forefront of integrating AI into space-based ISR," a spysat agency spokesperson told Breaking Defense.
Startup Apex Space had previously announced its own self-funded SBI demonstration called Project Shadow by the end of 2026.
Lockheed Martin’s ACES platform delivers a shared virtual battlespace that strengthens readiness, interoperability, and faster decision-making through advanced, integrated modeling and simulation capabilities designed for evolving global threats.
NSSL will be okay because it can still rely on the Falcon 9 workhorse," said Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
"While this OTA agreement establishes initial SB-AMTI capability, the Space Force anticipates issuing multiple awards in the coming year ," the service said today.
An analyst called the new commitment to pursue cislunar operations a "massive policy change" for the Pentagon.
"We've seen in Operation Epic Fury, for the first time, that our space capabilities have been targeted and destroyed. We expect that to happen more," Brig. Gen. Christopher Fernengel said today.