Chairman Caine talks cislunar ops, plus a window into next-gen airlift
We discuss top news from the final day of AFA 2026.
SPACECOM needs more capabilities to target space adversaries: Whiting
SPACECOM also is focusing on developing the baseline capabilities, such as space domain awareness and satellite communications, to undertake cislunar operations, said Gen. Stephen Whiting.
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Space war 2040: SPACECOM preps for attacks on ground segments, eyes cislunar ops
The Space Warfighting Environment 2040 is unique because it "was deliberately written to be warfighter-first, not technology-first," an official at SPACECOM's Joint Forces Development and Training team told Breaking Defense.
SPACECOM exploring tech for future offensive cislunar ops: Chief Scientist
An analyst called the new commitment to pursue cislunar operations a "massive policy change" for the Pentagon.
Former NASA head Jim Bridenstine takes helm at Quantum Space
The former NASA administrator still has eyes for the moon, but is now focusing on possible future Space Force operations in cislunar space.
With eyes on future NASA moon base, Space Force launches cislunar acquisition task force
Meanwhile, the Air Force Research Laboratory is gearing up to launch its experimental cislunar monitoring satellite, called Oracle Prime, next year.
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New Space Force acquisition portfolios to cover space control, orbital warfare
The Space Force is "serious" about integrating cislunar capabilities, with plans to work closely with NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory on new tech, Tom Ainsworth, Air Force space acquisition officer, said today.
Lanteris, formerly a Maxar company, to be acquired by Intuitive Machines
The move widens Intuitive Machines' past focus on the Moon to the space market closer to Earth.
DARPA’s DRACO nuclear propulsion project ROARs no more
DRACO began life in 2020 with the moniker "Reactor on a Rocket," or ROAR — a name agency scientists later decided might garner negative attention.
DARPA, NASA tap Lockheed Martin to design, build DRACO nuclear rocket for deep space missions
The Space Force is interested in DRACO primarily as an option for allowing it to undertake rapid on-orbit maneuvers, but also for potential future missions out to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
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From requirement-driven to market-ready: Rethinking how defense technology reaches the warfighter
As threats continue to evolve, speed will increasingly depend on what is already available when the need emerges.
India signs Artemis Accords, tightening ties with US in space race with China
New Delhi's adherence to the accords represents a boost to US efforts to rally allies to help counter China's expansion of its own civil and military space activities, as well as Beijing's use of space as a soft-power tool on the global stage.
NASA funding DRACO nuclear thermal rocket engine under deal with DARPA
"When people like to question the validity or usefulness of this engine, I point them to Wernher von Braun," said Tabitha Dodson, DRACO program manager at DARPA, "because this was more or less his idea."
From ‘lunar intelligence’ to orbital waystations, the US needs to keep the moon on the mind
The second moon race is on, and the US needs better eyes in the sky and coordination on the ground, writes Mike Rogers Center for Intelligence & Global Affairs Director Joshua Huminski.
To infinity and beyond: New Space Force unit to monitor ‘xGEO’ beyond Earth’s orbit
Space Force has established the new 19th Space Defense Squadron to monitor what officials now refer to as "xGEO" space.