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.
The Air Force will release some $882 million in cash it has withheld from Boeing due to problems on the 33 aircraft that have been delivered, Will Roper said. The only was released, in part, by concerns about Boeing's corporate health, as well as that of its subcontractors, because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett's report to Congress on future space acquisition will include a plan to reform the way JROC sets requirements.
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
The Space Force announced Saturday that it had accepted as operational Lockheed Martin's latest anti-jam upgrade to the software powering its its stop-gap operational control system for GPS III.
DoD hopes that sharing spectrum will help lower costs and create a sustainable 5G industrial base as it battles to keep up with China.
"But we are seeing in the information spaces especially ... we are seeing those that are trying to take advantage of this situation," Gen. Goldfein said in a wide-ranging discussion this morning sponsored by the Mitchell Institute.
"As the stand-up of the Space Force continues, additional space missions may be identified for transfer," says Air Force spokesman Maj. William Russell.
The Sixth Domain is not defined by geography. It’s a new kind of conflict in which autonomy and networked systems allow thousand-dollar consumer electronics to destroy multi-million-dollar conventional weapons systems.
"The economic impact of this (COVID_19) situation may be most acutely felt by the smaller businesses in the booming space startup sector," says Megan Crawford, managing partner of Space Fund.
"The first is scheduled for Nigeria," Gen. Stephen Lyons, TRANSCOM chief told reporters today, involving transport of "150 passengers" to Washington Dulles Airport in Virginia by civil aviation aircraft.
The Air Force provided few details about the latest problem bedeviling the airborne tanker in its terse statement last night, saying only that it had "upgraded an existing deficiency of its KC-46 Pegasus fuel system to Category I."
"Russia has become one of the world’s greatest perpetrators of electronic counterspace warfare, jamming and spoofing PNT and communications satellite signals in conflict zones, nearby territories, and within its own borders," CSIS says.
Breaking Defense Europe will launch May 4 with Tim Martin and Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo as co-editors.
"Raytheon has been executing as planned, giving us confidence in OCX’s ability to transition into operations,” Lt. Gen. John Thompson, SMC commander, said today.
"I have mobilized the Department of the Air Force into a wartime acquisition posture," said Roper. "We are at war with this virus."
As for the new name for Space Force troops, Gen. Raymond said the crowd-sourced search resulted in "over 700 responses" and that his staff is now "narrowing down the list." Our opinion: Space Cadets, Space Marines and Space Troopers are NOT likely, no matter how cool they might be.
"If they tried that, I'd expect to see a bipartisan display of pitchforks on Capitol Hill, and the likeness of certain DoD officials burned in effigy," said one expert of any move to disband MDA.