The Air Force has no choice but to pursue the current Launch Services Agreement. The plan is to have the three current launch partners — United Launch Alliance, Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin — work on a $2.3 billion effort to design three space launch variations. The first contract was awarded in October 2018. In 2020, […]
Congress should pass laws to ensure that the Pentagon fully commits to creating a “large, updatable, and resilient national security constellation” in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Balancing security and access to data are critical to providing users with trustworthy, reliable data for real-time decisions.
The India ASAT test could have provided an opportunity for leadership from the Trump administration to help prevent the creation of space debris.
Born as what most thought was a joke in March 2018, President Trump’s Space Force had by June become a White House directive to the Pentagon. Since then the Trump Administration has been considering possible variants in the Force’s subordination, authorities, size, and budget, while Acting SecDef Shanahan has already created a working group to […]
It's one of the coolest titles in the US military -- space architect! Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson announced Tuesday night there will again be a space architect, known as the Chief Architect.
WASHINGTON: In the vast swirling enterprise of global security space, the United States must come to terms with the tectonic shifts occurring as commercial companies come to dominate launch, the building of satellites and the sensors and software on which they depend, and figure out how to lead the way. That’s the conclusion of what […]
Partnerships with outside industry are a cornerstone of the kingdom’s ambitious growth strategy.
Commercial space has many military applications, The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency relies heavily on commercial imagery supplied by DigitalGlobe satellites. The National Reconnaissance Office recently joined with NGA in something called the Commercial GEOINT Activity to buy commercial satellite imagery. A raft of companies are talking about building and operating satellites to provide imagery and other data. […]
The next administration must do a “strategic rebalancing” of means to achieve what have been consistent national space security ends (goals): stability, sustainability and freedom of access. But a significant challenge to both reaffirming ends, and determining and implementing means, is structure, as we point out in a recent Strategy Paper for the Atlantic Council. While space is […]
WASHINGTON: John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, believes fervently in the importance of the authorizing committees, those bodies charged with making congressional policy and placing restrictions on weapons program spending. Today, McCain lost a battle against the appropriators, that small group of powerful legislative leaders who decide how much money the executive branch […]
Barack Obama is not likely to be mistaken for Teddy Roosevelt. Yes, his foreign policy has been quite soft-spoken—especially when addressing openly hostile states such as Iran. But he has whittled America’s “big stick” down to kindling. While “resetting” with Russia and “engaging” with Iran, Mr. Obama has presided over a tremendous down-sizing of U.S. […]
The MQ-9B and Gambit Series represent parallel capabilities that address global challenges for security head-on.
UPDATED: SMC Clarifies That Certification Is Not Indefinite. PENTAGON: Word from the Air Force is that SpaceX “remains certified” to launch the nation’s most expensive and heaviest intelligence and Air Force satellites. It took a few days, which is not surprising how politically and legally sensitive everything involving Elon Musk and SpaceX national security launch certification […]
WASHINGTON: Boom. The explosion that destroyed CRS-7 as it headed to orbit could mean Elon Musk’s fevered efforts to win the highly lucrative business of sending intelligence and Air Force satellites into space are, if not endangered, then at least in question. While the failure of SpaceX’s resupply mission to the International Space Station isn’t directly tied […]