Space Alert

The Missile Defense Agency has identified the nine companies that proposed conceptual designs for a Space Sensor Layer, establishing a competitive field for a network of orbiting satellites optimized to give U.S. military commanders a long-desired capability: the means to continuously track long-range missiles from launch to impact -- a tool deemed essential to defend against hypersonic threats.

Senior defense officials today revealed new details about the Trump administration's proposal for a new Space Force that will operate within the Air Force, acknowledging that plans for consolidating all "national-level" space assets currently managed by other military services could prove challenging in the future.

The Pentagon estimates it will cost about $2 billion over the next five years to stand up a Space Force, including $72 million in fiscal year 2020 for a new headquarters, according to a strategic overview document that will accompany the Defense Department's forthcoming legislative proposal.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is calling for industry input into a software development effort known as Pit Boss, which will demonstrate space-based autonomous command-and-control and data processing to support the agency's highly watched Blackjack program.

The Pentagon is asking industry for ideas on a new satellite constellation optimized to identify fleeting, high-priority targets for attack by conventionally armed hypersonic glide vehicles, a solicitation that marks a development in the U.S. military's effort to field a new class of ultra-fast weapons and advances the Trump administration's goal to develop a "left of launch" missile defense capability.

President Trump is expected to sign a key space policy directive today that would set up a new military service, but would fall short of establishing a new department for space.

The Air Force's strategy to develop the next generation of missile warning satellites on an aggressive schedule using new acquisition concepts and resiliency standards hit a snag last fall when Congress partially denied funding for a reprogramming request, delaying the start of payload development by about four months, according to a service official.

The Air Force is considering measuring cybersecurity in its source-selection process for space programs, in the same way it might assess performance, cost or schedule, according to the service's acquisition executive.

The Defense Department and intelligence community have not adequately resourced or utilized space testing infrastructure that would support more operationally representative threat simulation, according to a new report from the Pentagon's top weapons tester.