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.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Air Force briefing charts presented at the Milsatcom USA conference show a plan to award a contract for the Protected Tactical Enterprise System by the end of 2018 or early 2019 and to have the ground systems developed by 2023.
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center is reorganizing into SMC 2.0 and intends to use authorities from Section 804 of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act to accelerate protected tactical satcom programs.
The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system is a jam-proof satellite communications network the U.S. Air Force began deploying in 2010 to replace the legacy Milstar satellites.
The Space Corps option within the Department of the Air Force assumes a 27,300-person total workforce including military and civilians and an $11,300,000,000 annual budget with about $11,000,000,000 drawn from existing Air Force accounts.
Two years prior to the report, the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded prototype terminal contracts of $39,000,000 to Raytheon, $38,000,000 to L3, and $33,000,000 to Viasat for field demonstrations scheduled through 2020.
The AEHF-4 satellite launched on 2018-10-17 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
As of 2018-11-17 SpaceX had no major upgrades planned for Falcon 9, with only minor tweaks to improve reliability contingent on NASA and U.S. Air Force support.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson estimated setup costs for the new space branch and unified command at $13,000,000,000 over five years.
SpaceX’s remaining 2018 missions, all using Falcon 9 rockets, include Spaceflight Inc.’s SmallSat Express, the U.S. Air Force’s first GPS 3 satellite, NASA’s CRS-16 resupply mission to the International Space Station, and the final 10 Iridium Next satellites for Iridium.
Tom Becht is the military satcom director at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center and called for companies to team up and offer services as a consortium to supply the Department of Defense more commercial capability.
Deborah Lee James' recent tenure as Secretary of the Air Force provides her with unique insight into the needs of the United States military.
Prior to serving as Secretary of the Air Force, Deborah Lee James was President of the Technical and Engineering Sector for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).
Deborah Lee James served as Secretary of the Air Force from 2013 to 2017.
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center is responsible for buying 90 percent of the U.S. military’s space systems.
Congress inserted funds for WGS-11 and WGS-12 in the Fiscal Year 2018 defense budget and directed the Air Force to submit a plan for providing future wideband communications.
The U.S. Air Force completed the Wideband Communications Services Analysis of Alternatives in summer 2018.
The Air Force is developing a new military constellation and a secure tactical satcom architecture for military forces operating in environments where adversaries may jam satellite signals and interfere with ground networks.
Viasat received a Low Rate Initial Production order of 1,000 National Security Agency-certified Mini Crypto devices from the U.S. Air Force.
Lockheed Martin printed the Remote Interface Unit, an aluminum box that houses avionic circuits, for the sixth U.S. Air Force Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite slated to launch in 2019.
With funding from DARPA and the Air Force, the Blackjack program will develop and demonstrate technical elements for a global high-speed network platform in low Earth orbit to enable highly networked, resilient, and persistent Department of Defense payloads.