Space Alert

The Air Force announced Wednesday it has awarded more than $2.2 billion in other transaction agreements to Northrop Grumman, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin to develop launch vehicles to compete for future national security space launches.

Despite some indication that the House Armed Services Committee may be headed toward partisan division on the proposal to create a new Space Force within the Defense Department, the committee's two strongest proponents of reorganization said today they are hopeful the conversation can remain apolitical.

A prominent defense budget analyst said today the Air Force’s $13 billion cost estimate for a new Space Force is not “conservative” as Secretary Heather Wilson has suggested, and even went as far as to label the service’s guesswork as “malicious compliance” that could stoke opposition on Capitol Hill.

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Air Force estimates establishing a new space service would cost $12.9 billion from fiscal years 2020 to 2025 and require an additional 13,000 personnel, according to a new memo obtained by Inside Defense.

Getting commanders to recognize the utility of cyber, space and other assets is one of the most important parts of moving toward multidomain operations, according to Army officials.

The Pentagon's technology chief, who worked on the Strategic Defense Initiative in the 1980s, says past cost estimates of space-based missile defense interceptors are overblown, as he believes a constellation of 1,000 interceptors could cost $20 billion.

The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center expects by September to begin implementing new procedures to hold contractors responsible for poor performance.

The Air Force awarded two sizable contracts this week for hypersonic weapons development and next-generation missile warning satellites using new rapid prototyping authorities granted by Congress.

The military's second highest-ranking officer said today that while the Pentagon will fully support President Trump's direction to propose the creation of a Space Force, the complicated path toward a sixth service will require "significant work with Congress."