Space Alert

The head of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center said today the service is working with Boeing to use commercial approaches to buy the 11th and 12th Wideband Global Satellite Communications space vehicles.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is proposing legislation that would direct the U.S. military to plan development of a space-based, ballistic missile interceptor fleet -- a project estimated to cost at least tens of billions of dollars -- even if the forthcoming Missile Defense Review does not call for such a capability.

House and Senate lawmakers are recommending Congress back a proposal -- not funded in the Pentagon's fiscal year 2019 budget request -- authorizing the Missile Defense Agency to launch a new space-based sensor network capable of tracking enemy long-range ballistic and hypersonic missiles from launch to impact.

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants to add $1.2 billion to the Defense Department's planned research and development funding in fiscal year 2019, as the panel's new legislation seeks to shore up DOD efforts in key technology areas like hypersonics and space constellations.

The Air Force recently upped the funding ceiling of its new space prototyping consortium from $100 million to $500 million due to its initial success and popularity within the Defense Department.

Although the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle procurement strategy may require more upfront funding than other alternatives for meeting the service's assured access to space requirement, the plan may have the best long-term payoff, according to a recent report.

The Defense Department recently submitted an interim report to Congress on the organization and management of the military space enterprise, and while it doesn't include any evaluation of the proposal to create a separate Space Corps, it does reveal several ongoing efforts to improve space acquisition, budgeting and warfighting.

Lawmakers this week approved an amendment to the House Armed Services Committee's fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill that would fence all funding for the Air Force's Joint Space Operations Center Mission System upgrade and impose significant spending restrictions on the service's Enterprise Space Battle Management Command and Control research and development efforts.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- For the first time, the Pentagon's top strategy documents include language about space as a warfighting domain -- a change that Defense Department officials say is driving changes to the way the military thinks about protecting its on-orbit assets.