Space Force moves closer to replacing aging DMSP weather sats
DoD's effort to replace the DMSP polar orbiting constellation, first launched in the 1960s, is a historic tale tale of acquisition woe.
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Eye On AF Weather Sat Decisions, Raytheon Offers VIIRS
As the Air Force tries to decide — after more than a decade of false starts — just what weather satellites and sensors it needs to build, a Raytheon executive says his company is conducting an internal assessment of how it could meet any emerging needs. “The Air Force now is going through a process, as […]
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Turning R&D into reality to meet the challenges of the modern battlefield
Knowing when to build on commercial systems and when to develop something new can be the difference between parity and information dominance.
Bad Idea: A Swiss Army Knife Approach to Defense Acquisition
We’re partnering with the Center for Strategic and International Studies to bring you their fab Bad Ideas series through the Christmas holiday season. This one deals with something Breaking D readers know a great deal about: the wonders of how requirements get built and the ensuing fun that can follow. Gabriel Coll of CSIS reminds everyone of […]
Space Council Should Tackle Air Force Weather Sats: Rep. Babins
CORRECTED: Raytheon Builds VIIRS WASHINGTON: The Trump Administration’s new Space Council should tackle the thorny interagency problem of how much the Air Force will do to provide weather data to the US government, says the chairman of the House subcommittee that deals with space policy. More than […]
HASC Strat Forces Will Push Weather Sats to NRO; Fences JSPOC Dough
UPDATED from Hill staff briefing WASHINGTON: In a move that may spark sustained conflict between the worlds of black and white space, the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee wants to transfer the building of weather of satellites to the National Reconnaissance Office after years of bumbling and indecision by the Air Force, NASA and NOAA. […]
HASC StratForces Chair Slams Air Force Space Management
CAPITOL HILL: The short view: Congressman slams Air Force for weather satellite fiasco. Long view: Congress, White House, Air Force, NASA, Commerce Department have all screwed up US weather satellite programs. “We could have saved the Air Force and the Congress a lot of aggravation if we put a half of a billion dollars in […]
The state of play in military space
The military space sector is evolving fast. Get the latest from Space Force and industry officials on what’s next for acquisition, policy and training in a new Breaking Defense eBook.
SecAF James OKs Combat Rescue Helicopter; T-X Trainer, Weather Sat, JSTARs Also Funded
UPDATED: Adds Secretary James’ Comments On CRH PENTAGON: In a dramatic last-minute budget decision, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James today approved the long-delayed purchase of a Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH). The announcement was slipped into today’s Air Force budget briefing by Maj. Gen. James Martin, Air Force budget director. Martin said he was told […]
Faster Better Cheaper: Lessons Defense Could Learn From NASA
As the Department of Defense continues to wrestle with the high costs and often slow pace of military technology and acquisition programs, it would do well to take a closer look at that other bastion of high-tech government programs: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA’s low-cost missions from yesteryear just might hold the secret […]
Hosted Space Payloads Almost Ready For Liftoff; Harris, Iridium Pair On Aireon
UPDATED: Air Force General Praises CHIRP, Hosted Payloads COLORADO SPRINGS, NATIONAL SPACE SYMPOSIUM: After almost a decade of discussion, hope and frustration, the time appears to finally be ripe for what the space industry calls hosted payloads, the Remora fish of satellites. The Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, which has long been wary […]
Big Boeing Targets Small Satellite Market; Not ORS, But Much Faster Than Usual
COLORADO SPRINGS, NATIONAL SPACE SYMPOSIUM: The Boeing Company, better known for building big satellites in clean rooms and charging big prices for them, has spotted what it thinks may be a sweet spot in the satellite market and plans to build prototypes of three small satellites to show the market what it can do. The […]
The future of Zero Trust
Zero Trust is the Pentagon’s foundation for its modern cybersecurity strategy.
Satellite Program Kill Could Leave U.S. Bereft of Crucial Weather Data
UPDATED: Washington: Northrop Grumman knows the Defense Weather Satellite System neck is stretched out beneath the Pentagon budget cutters ax. Advocates like defense consultant Loren Thompson are rushing out to defend it. The Air Force is getting ready to kill the satellite program, which is a stepchild of the late unlamented (except by Northrop) NPOESS […]
The Pentagon’s 12 Deadly Sins, Or How DoD Blew an Historic Chance To Recapitalize
Washington: Lists can be fun and the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments issued a doozie today, listing the dozen big programs killed by the Pentagon and their value at time of death. “Over the past decade at least a dozen major programs were terminated without any operational systems being fielded. The sunk cost of […]