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.
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.
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.
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.
“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 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.
SpaceX was assigned seven NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 launches under a contract worth $714 million; ULA two launches worth $428 million.
Both of the newly named companies are focusing heavily on the national security market for space-related capabilities.
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.”
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.
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.
Contracts for the next-generation Tranche 3, which will replace the earliest Transport Layer satellites, have been paused until the Space Force study is completed, five sources with knowledge of the program told Breaking Defense.
The MILNET contract with SpaceX is being paid for by the Space Force but managed by the National Reconnaissance Office, sources said.
The June 16 letter asserts that the cuts will undercut the Pentagon's Golden Dome plan to create an air and missile defense shield over the US homeland.
Beyond the potential consequences for the US industry, a reduction in NRO acquisition of commercial imagery also could directly impact US and allied military commanders in the field and US agencies charged with disaster relief, industry and government officials warned.