The Space Development Agency is projecting its research and development budget will increase to nearly $7.5 billion by fiscal year 2025 -- major near-term growth that offers a glimpse at how the Pentagon plans to inject new funding across its space portfolio.
Space Alert
February 13, 2020
The National Guard Bureau's space operations directorate expects that a report due in late March will lay out a plan to stand up a Space National Guard within the Space Force.
February 12, 2020
The U.S. military plans to have an initial space sensor layer operational as soon as fiscal year 2022 -- a new capability that will begin to close a blind spot in today's sensor network by giving commanders the ability to continuously track hypersonic boost glide weapons as well as long-range ballistic missiles from launch to impact.
February 10, 2020
The Defense Department's fiscal year 2021 budget request offers the first comprehensive look at the Space Force budget, which calls for $15.4 billion to fund the new service.
February 7, 2020
The Air Force's new Space Fence radar system is demonstrating the ability to track significantly more small objects in space, but a new report from the Pentagon's top weapons tester concludes that until the service secures a second radar site, the system will not have the power to "continuously track and maintain awareness of these small objects.
February 6, 2020
The Defense Department is crafting a legislative proposal to submit to Congress by Feb. 20 that lays out possible authorities and policy changes to support its next steps in standing up the new service.
February 3, 2020
The Air Force today delivered to Congress its plan for the organizational structure of the Space Force, outlining "clean sheet" plans to stand up a lean, agile service.
Air Force estimates new satellite project to link naval forces in polar north will cost $2.6 billion
The Air Force has tallied a $2.6 billion tab for its Enhanced Polar System-Recapitalization program, an extremely high frequency satellite system that when combined with an associated ground component is designed to provide naval forces operating in north polar regions -- such as nuclear-armed submarines -- secure, anti-jam communications that are difficult for an adversary to detect.
January 31, 2020
The Pentagon's top weapons tester continues to push for greater investment in threat-representative space testing infrastructure, writing in his most recent report that the Defense Department should invest at least $100 million per year over the next five years in improving space threat emulation.
January 30, 2020
The U.S. military is wrestling with how best to evaluate weapon systems focused on the space and cyber domains, despite a new budgetary focus on procuring emerging technologies in both areas, according to the annual report from the Pentagon's chief weapons tester.
January 30, 2020
The Air Force this week selected Raytheon to develop a data processing framework for its Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared ground system -- an effort the company hopes will provide a pathway to future satellite ground services work.
January 29, 2020
The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today said the overclassification of programs is "unbelievably ridiculous," and he expects to see improvement this year.
January 28, 2020
As the Air Force readies a new space acquisition and integration office, one of its early efforts is to identify roles and responsibilities for existing organizations that develop space capabilities, including the Space Development Agency, the Space Rapid Capabilities Office and the Space and Missile Systems Center.
January 21, 2020
As the new Space Development Agency continues to map its strategy for a missile tracking and detection layer, it is working closely with the Missile Defense Agency to determine which organization will be responsible for which capabilities.
January 21, 2020
Nearly a year after it was created, the Space Development Agency is today beginning its work in earnest by asking industry to propose a wide range of "good enough" systems, technologies and capabilities that "enable leap-ahead improvements" that can be rapidly put on orbit in two-year tranches beginning in fiscal year 2022 in order to begin fleshing out a new National Defense Space Architecture.
January 17, 2020
The Pentagon's No. 2 military official today issued a stinging rebuke of Defense Department deliberations over developing a new satellite urgently needed to track -- among other things -- adversary hypersonic weapons.
January 17, 2020
The Defense Department owes lawmakers a report next year on how to integrate Navy and Army space capabilities into the new Space Force, but the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the department needs to move faster.
January 13, 2020
Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin has approved a $900 million ceiling increase for the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's Space Enterprise Consortium -- nearly tripling the program's funding limit.
January 9, 2020
The Space and Missile Systems Center has developed an initial roadmap for transitioning space programs to a new Enterprise Ground Services architecture by 2028.
January 6, 2020
The Space and Missile Systems Center is looking to boost funding for a fiscal year 2020 new-start program that would consolidate and focus investment in innovative prototyping efforts across the space enterprise.