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.
The United States Space Force contracted SpaceX to build the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator constellation and the data network backbone that carries its output.
The Space Force selected nine companies, including SpaceX, in April 2026 to develop Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator concepts.
On May 28, 2026, the acting USSF Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Space Based Sensing and Targeting awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion Other Transaction Authority agreement for the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator program.
ANT61 delivered hardware for its Beacon satellite mission assurance system to a US defense systems integrator for a mission scheduled to launch on a United States Space Force flight in Q1 2027.
Military officials project West Coast launch cadence will increase from 66 missions in 2025 to 150 within five years at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The Space Force expects to issue multiple awards in the coming year to drive competition across the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator architecture.
The Space Force has not yet awarded the sensor payloads, radiation-hardened compute hardware, or inter-satellite link terminals needed to make the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator constellation operationally useful.
Space Force awarded True Anomaly a share of $3.2 billion in space-based interceptor prototype contracts four days before its Series D financing.
The U.S. Space Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $514 million contract for two additional GPS IIIF satellites.
Space Force awarded True Anomaly a share of $3.2 billion in space-based interceptor prototype contracts four days before the Series D funding round.
The Space Force has consistently requested less for commercial services than Congress has appropriated.
Rocket Lab conducted a responsive launch for the VICTUS HAZE mission for the U.S. Space Force and Space Systems Command.
VICTUS HAZE is a mission for the U.S. Space Force and Space Systems Command.
The Space Force already operates a commercial services working capital fund.
The fiscal 2027 budget request proposes an 80% increase in Space Force funding.
Col. Daniel Dant is a Senior Visiting Scholar at the National Space Power Center at the Space Force Association.
The Space Force operates a commercial services working capital fund.
Bharath Gopalaswamy is a Senior Visiting Scholar at the National Space Power Center at the Space Force Association.
During the 2023 Victus Nox demonstration, the Space Force encapsulated and launched a satellite on a Firefly Aerospace rocket 27 hours after receiving the alert.
The Rapid Reconstitution of Space Capabilities program aims to provide gap-filler technologies that can support the U.S. Space Force during a crisis.