The defense sector is projected to account for only nine percent of the satellites going up between 2024 and 2035, but at the same time representing a whopping 48 percent of total market value.
AFRL's fiscal 2025 budget plans show that the lab hopes to complete testing of the capability to air-drop cargo pallets down from Starship during FY25, and to launch a demonstration flight to "transport 30 to 100 tons of cargo to an austere site" in late FY25 or early FY26.
“Tactical operating system” for warfighters has evolved to provide more situational awareness of the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the report says, the Space Force should be in charge of pursuing large networks of small satellites under the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) — differentiating its "tactical ISR" job from the "strategic" mission of NRO.
The investment in transitioning Rocket Cargo "is focused on utilizing vehicles that traverse from or through space to transport DoD materiel anywhere around the world within tactically responsive timelines," the Space Force's FY25 budget request says.
While Space Systems Command hasn't publicly expressed concerns, outside observers point out that there is a real possibility that only Elon Musk's SpaceX will be able to undertake National Security Space Launches in the next few years.
WASHINGTON: Hot on the heels of an agreement between the Air Force and the FAA to streamline regulations on space launches from military ranges, the head of one of the biggest US launch providers has called for penalizing companies that violate the safety clauses of FAA launch licenses. “The regulations that FAA applies, and the licensing […]
Knowing when to build on commercial systems and when to develop something new can be the difference between parity and information dominance.
If industry can "turn this into a human transport mechanism -- which some of the companies are talking about doing -- sure the DoD would be interested in exploring options for that, just as we do with the airlines, and the shipping industries today,"AFRL's Program Manager Greg Spanjers said.