Air Force kicks off AMTI program with competition for first ‘increment’
Awards will be issued “fairly shortly” for the first operational satellites that can track aircraft and from space, according to Air Force Secretary Troy Meink.
Nowhere to hide: Iran war spotlights military challenges posed by space-based remote sensing
Planet in a March 9 notice to its customers, obtained by Breaking Defense, explained that the company would be instituting a 14-day delay on release of imagery not just of Iran, but also of nearby military bases, the Gulf States and "existing conflict zones."
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With funding flush, Space Force hopes to speed satellites to track aircraft, missiles
Gen. Chance Saltzman, Space Force chief, said the work already done to design a satellite system for tracking ground targets should also help speed AMTI capabilities to orbit.
HEO, SatVu, Sierra Nevada nab first of NRO’s new commercial imagery contracts
"Budget permitting, NRO anticipates issuing additional awards later this year to expand these multi-phenomenology capabilities," the spy-sat agency said in a press release today.
SpaceX to launch next SDA missile tracking satellites
SpaceX will launch 36 Tranche 2 Tracking Layer satellites — 18 built by L3Harris and 18 built by Lockheed Martin — plus eight FOO Fighter birds built by Millennium Space Systems.
‘Overwatch’ from space, cyber ops foundational to Maduro mission
Gen. Dan Caine, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, on Jan. 3 gave a shout-out to the roles played by US Space Command and US Cyber Command in Operation Absolute Resolve.
Breaking Defense announces Breaking Defense Europe, a new, distinct, European edition
Breaking Defense Europe will launch May 4 with Tim Martin and Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo as co-editors.
Space Force will not partner with NRO for next-generation surveillance satellites
Interested firms have until Jan. 9 to respond to a Space Force request for information about new wide-field-of-view cameras for a SILENTBARKER replacement constellation.
Space Force ramps up counter-drone defense at Cape Canaveral, Eastern Range
“It's giving me a holistic coverage over the Cape, as opposed to pockets of coverage that I have today,” Space Launch Delta 45 Commander Col. Brian Chatman told Breaking Defense.
NRO extends contracts for 4 providers, readies new acquisition approach
NRO Deputy Director Maj. Gen. Christopher Povak said that the spysat agency soon will begin using a new commercial contract vehicle with a five-year "rolling" window for bids.
Space Force taps SpaceX, ULA for first set of critical launches beyond FY27
SpaceX was assigned seven NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 launches under a contract worth $714 million; ULA two launches worth $428 million.
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What’s in a name: Goodbye Maxar, hello Vantor and Lanteris
Both of the newly named companies are focusing heavily on the national security market for space-related capabilities.
NRO needs AI to manage more than 200 (and counting) satellites, director says
Chris Scolese envisions an NRO constellation user saying, “‘I want to know how many ships are in the Taiwan Strait’ ... and then the system could go off and do it.”
House Intel Committee props up FY26 funding for NRO commercial imagery buys
The bill also directs the Director of National Intelligence to appoint a single official to oversee the acquisition of commercially available information by all IC agencies.
Space Force launching sats to ‘enable’ GMTI ahead of mission-dedicated birds in 2028
Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber and nuclear, also said the service expects to complete an analysis of alternatives by this fall for a separate but related effort to track airborne targets from the heavens.