The U.S. Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the U.S. Department of Defense, established in December 2019. Its primary role is to organize, train, and equip space forces to protect U.S. and allied interests in space by ensuring space superiority. The USSF manages space launch operations, satellite operations, space environment surveillance, and satellite defense, and partners with organizations like NASA on space domain awareness and planetary defense. Key areas of focus include missile warning, satellite communications, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
On April 14, 2026, the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command awarded Lockheed Martin Space a $68,546,456 contract modification for the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) Geosynchronous (GEO) program.
The U.S. Space Force wants resilient and redundant allied architectures that can withstand potential adversaries.
The Space Force documents outline a 15-year roadmap to expand the service into a larger, more autonomous, combat-ready force.
General B. Chance Saltzman released the Space Force documents "Future Operating Environment 2040" and "Objective Force 2040" on April 15, 2026 at the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.
The Space Force is shifting acquisition policy away from sequential testing and pursuing perfection toward Minimum Viable Capabilities that can be fielded quickly and upgraded incrementally.
The government-driven sub-cycle is running at $40.1 billion in U.S. Space Force budget authority.
Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess is the U.S. Space Force deputy chief of space operations.
The Space Force budget projection covers the first five years of the Objective Force roadmap.
The Space Force’s RG-XX program has large delta-v requirements.
The Space Force plans to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations missions with the eventual RG-XX satellites.
The U.S. Space Force intends to disaggregate sensors across multiple spacecraft to eliminate single points of failure in its environmental monitoring network.
Lockheed Martin was one of 14 Andromeda awardees for the Space Force’s $1.8 billion Geosynchronous Reconnaissance and Surveillance Constellation program.
The U.S. Space Force is shifting toward smaller, more resilient satellites for the EO/IR Weather System program.
The U.S. Space Force launched the Space Test Program S29A mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on April 7.
L3Harris Technologies received a $150 million contract from the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command under the MOSSAIC program on April 7.
The Golden Dome program office is led by U.S. Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein.
The U.S. Space Force awarded contracts to 14 companies worth more than 1.5 billion euros on 8 April for satellite production and technologies to track activity in geostationary orbit.
Northrop Grumman launched the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program S29A mission on April 7, 2026, from Space Launch Complex 8 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
The STP-S29A mission used a Minotaur IV launch vehicle to deploy a suite of experimental satellites for the U.S. Space Force’s proliferated combat network architecture.
Data from STPSat-7 and associated CubeSats will inform future Space Force proliferated architecture requirements, including improved Link 16 connectivity and tactical waveform development.