The U.S. Air Force (USAF) plays a significant role in the space industry, historically serving as the Department of Defense's executive agent for space, and developing early military space programs and launch vehicles. Although the U.S. Space Force was established as an independent branch in 2019, the Air Force continues to contribute to space operations, including training personnel, research and development, and maintaining partnerships. The USAF's space-related activities encompass satellite operations, missile warning, communication support, and collaboration with allies to ensure regional stability. Key partners include the U.S. Space Force, other branches of the military, and international allies.
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The Aerospace Corporation was founded in 1960 to help the U.S. Air Force develop the first missiles, rockets, and satellites.
The Senate rejected the Department of Defense’s plan in its version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to establish a space service headquarters led by two four-star generals and an undersecretary of the Air Force for space.
The U.S. Air Force allocated $7,000,000 of a $20,000,000 budget for commercial weather data as of January.
The three teams designed FORGE prototypes under cost-sharing Other Transaction Authority contracts managed by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s Space Enterprise Consortium.
The Trump administration supports in principle the House Armed Services Committee language to establish a U.S. Space Corps as a sixth branch of the Armed Forces within the Department of the Air Force while requesting specific changes.
Section 1601 would require the Air Force to provide up to $500,000,000 to launch companies that either win a Phase 2 contract after fiscal year 2022 or win a Phase 2 contract but are not part of a Launch Service Agreement to meet national security-unique infrastructure and certification requirements for a Phase 2 contract.
The Air Force requested Congress shift $632,000,000 from future budgets into the 2019 budget to support next-gen OPIR timelines.
The president announced on 2019-05-21 his intent to nominate former U.S. Ambassador Barbara Barrett as secretary of the Air Force.
The Air Force plans to start launching next-gen OPIR satellites by 2025.
The U.S. Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman an $82,000,000 contract to develop a next-generation ground system to provide telemetry, cybersecurity, and control for EPS and EPS-R payloads.
The U.S. Air Force will select two providers next year from a field that includes Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, and ULA for NSSL Phase 2.
The U.S. Air Force will require space vehicles at its ranges to have an automated flight safety system beginning in 2023, and vehicles without AFSS by 2023 will have to pay for what the government provides.
The SLC-6 runway was used to land the Air Force’s X-37B reusable spaceplane three times between 2010 and 2012.
Space Launch Complex 6 was originally built in the 1960s to launch the Air Force’s Manned Orbital Laboratory.
The Ascent Abort-2 test on 2019-07-02 from Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station demonstrated that Orion’s launch abort system could pull the spacecraft away from a malfunctioning rocket in flight.
A refurbished Peacekeeper rocket motor lifted off from Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7 a.m. Eastern carrying a boilerplate Orion module and its launch abort system on the Abort Ascent 2 (AA-2) mission.
The Air Force did not have enough money in the 2018 and 2019 budgets to accelerate procurement of next-gen OPIR, causing the target delivery date to slip to 2025.
Up until late 2017 the Air Force planned a replacement for SBIRS that would have been ready to launch by 2029.
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center is a 65-year-old institution that develops and builds satellites and decides which rockets will launch them into orbit.
NASA will conduct the Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) test at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 2019-07-02 during a four-hour window that opens at 7 a.m. Eastern.