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 Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded United Launch Alliance a $149,000,000 contract modification for a Delta 4 Heavy launch of the National Reconnaissance Office mission NROL-68.
NROL-68 and NROL-70 are planned to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
CBO estimates that a new service within the Department of the Air Force would require 4,100 to 6,800 personnel and increase annual costs by $820,000,000 to $1,300,000,000.
The Air Force delivered the first Space C2 software apps to operators at Vandenberg and Schriever in March.
The $11,000,000 for JMS in the Air Force’s fiscal year 2020 budget request will be removed in the following budget.
Firefly Aerospace expected to take possession of a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, formerly used by the Delta II, in June or July 2019.
The Air Force’s budget request for fiscal year 2020 included $11,000,000 for JMS.
Atlas Space Operations received an Air Force contract to prototype another electronically steered antenna for military missions in 2019.
By law the Air Force is allowed to purchase Atlas V launches until 2022-12-31 despite a Congressional mandate to stop using the vehicle because its main stage is powered by the Russian RD-180 engine.
The Air Force intends to depend on newly designed launch vehicles to perform the more complex missions required in Phase 2.
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center released the final request for proposals for the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement on 2019-05-03.
The Air Force plans to competitively award contracts in 2020 to two domestic launch service providers under the Phase 2 LSP.
The Air Force is developing a Protected Tactical Waveform that will run over a ground control system being developed by Boeing as part of the Protected Tactical System effort.
The Air Force reached an undefinitized contract action with Boeing calling for WGS-11 to have double the bandwidth and power of WGS-10 under a $605,000,000 deal.
Relativity is working with the U.S. Air Force to develop launch facilities for Terran 1 at Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 16.
Congress added $600,000,000 to the Air Force’s 2018 budget for the procurement of two additional WGS satellites that the Air Force had not planned to buy.
The U.S. Air Force plans to launch 21 payloads on five missions this calendar year through RALI, including the STP-27RD flight and a later launch by Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne.
Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:48 a.m. Eastern and placed the Dragon into orbit nearly 10 minutes later.
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center released the final request for proposals for competitively awarding contracts in 2020 to two domestic launch service providers.
The Air Force delayed the RFP from its original 2019-03-29 release date to conduct further reviews and tweak some provisions.