Space Alert

As the Air Force seeks additional funds to keep the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared System on schedule, Senate appropriators are proposing a $536 million plus-up for the program that could fill a significant early funding gap.

The Air Force's top civilian acquisition official said this week he's concerned a congressional proposal to create a separate acquisition executive for space could limit efforts to better integrate air and space capabilities.

The White House has sent a 21-page list of "anomalies" to Congress seeking exemptions for a variety of federal spending priorities -- including the establishment of a Space Development Agency, continued development of hypersonic weapons and new background investigations -- in the likely event lawmakers pass a stopgap continuing resolution.

The head of the newly established U.S. Space Command said he recently reached a "new agreement" with the National Reconnaissance Office stipulating that both organizations will collaborate equally until the "higher stages of conflict," at which point NRO will answer to SPACECOM.

The head of the newly established U.S. Space Command said he recently reached a “new agreement” with the National Reconnaissance Office stipulating that both organizations will collaborate equally until the “higher stages of conflict,” at which point NRO will answer to SPACECOM.

The Defense Department will formally establish U.S. Space Command next week, on Aug. 29, a move that will shift 87 units under a single unified combatant command.

The Pentagon's under secretary of defense for research and engineering today rejected reports of turmoil at the fledgling Space Development Agency, attributing management changes and a lack of congressional buy-in to the standard disruption that comes with establishing any new organization.

The Air Force plans to take an incremental approach to fill a $623 million funding gap in the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared program, according to a top space acquisition official.

While Congress appears poised to authorize some version of a Space Force or Space Corps, experts say the key to that new organization’s impact is in how the plan is implemented -- and one of the biggest challenges will be aligning capabilities owned by separate services under one organizing element.