Firefly to buy SciTec with eye on Golden Dome
One analyst told Breaking Defense Golden Dome "is a motivator for sure, but this deal also provides Firefly with diversified revenue streams."
One analyst told Breaking Defense Golden Dome "is a motivator for sure, but this deal also provides Firefly with diversified revenue streams."
"I just think freedom of maneuver is going to be the enabler for every space mission going forward," said Gokul Subramanian, Anduril's senior vice president of engineering.
"With a 16 metric ton to orbit capability, Eclipse is a sweet spot for programs like NSSL Lane 1 and a natural fit to launch proliferated constellations," said Firefly CEO Jason Kim.
While the current focus on the TacRS program is space domain awareness, Col. Bryon McClain, SSC's head of Space Domain Awareness and Combat Power, said other sorts of operational missions might be undertaken in the future.
The report finds that Russia has been increasingly successful at blocking Ukraine's use of SpaceX's Starlink communications constellation, citing media reports in December 2024 about a new system specifically targeting Starlink called Kalinka and developed by the Russian Center for Unmanned Systems and Technologies.
A spokesperson for Space System Command's Space Safari office told Breaking Defense that the Victus Sol launch date, payload type, capability requirements and mission objective "will not be disclosed at this time in accordance with mission requirements."
"This BAA helps NRO advance emerging technologies across launch, on-orbit support, and command & control," said Col. Eric J. Zarybnisky, director of NRO's Office of Space Launch.
The OSP-4 contract vehicle was designed by the Space Force to allow both mature launch providers and promising new companies — that is, those judged as about a year away from launch capability — to vie for individual task orders for missions that don't require services under the more critical National Space Security Launch program.
Breaking Defense was given exclusive space tracking information showing the unique path of the Russian system, one experts say is the reason for US government warnings about space-based nuclear weapons.
"This will be a modified mission from the Victus Nox mission," David Ryan, space portfolio manager at the Defense Innovation Unit said, noting that "there are two parts of the mission, and DIU is working on a single part with Space Safari."
"This mission highlights significant progress towards meeting emerging challenges in space,” said Lt. Col. MacKenzie Birchenough, materiel leader for SSC's Space Safari office.
The program, called Victus Haze, builds on the on-going Space Systems Command Victus Nox mission to rapidly launch a prototype satellite for keeping tabs on objects in low Earth orbit.
China has now passed the United States in its tactically responsive space launch capabilities, according to a new report by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
"It's challenging. It's not the status quo. We're pushing the envelope with the Space Force," Millennium CEO Jason Kim told Breaking Defense.