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.
The Department of the Air Force expects that building smaller systems, acquiring smaller ground and software increments, using existing technologies, and shortening contract timelines will enable the Space Force to provide mission capabilities faster to warfighters.
The Department of the Air Force plans to capitalize on government research and development, industry internal research and development, and corporate commercial investments to create new technologies for incorporation into its acquisition programs.
AFWERX, the U.S. Air Force innovation arm, awarded a Small Business Innovation Research contract funding Albedo’s work to mature its infrared imager technology through aerial flights and lab work.
X-Bow Systems received a $60,000,000 U.S. Air Force Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) agreement.
AFWERX is the U.S. Air Force innovation arm that established the STRATFI program in 2021.
Hydrosat received a $1,200,000 U.S. Air Force award to investigate national security applications for thermal infrared data earlier in the year.
SLC-6 was originally built in the 1960s to support the U.S. Air Force’s never-flown Manned Orbital Laboratory program.
Ursa Major won a U.S. Air Force $3,600,000 contract last year to support development and flight-qualification of the Hadley engine.
The Small Launch and Targets Division Office at Kirtland Air Force Base awarded an $11,500,000 Task Order to Astra Space, Inc. of Alameda, California for the Space Test Program STP-S29B launch service.
In 2022, L3Harris and industry partners completed upgrades on a phased array radar at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall submitted a legislative proposal to Congress on 2023-04-12 to allow selected Pentagon programs to start before final appropriations are passed.
The Department of the Air Force completed an analysis nearly two years ago to justify funding in the 2024 defense budget for at least 20 new programs.
Orbital Sidekick has government contracts to supply hyperspectral data to the United States Department of Defense through partnerships with In-Q-Tel, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Space Force.
Lamborn has no updates on the Department of the Air Force's decisions regarding the location of U.S. Space Command.
Orbital Sidekick has secured government contracts to supply hyperspectral data to the United States Department of Defense through partnerships with In-Q-Tel, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Space Force.
The Air Force directed in 2016 that the Pentagon stop using launch vehicles powered by Russian engines and allowed DoD Atlas 5 contracts only through 2022.
From October 2018 through December 2020 the Air Force paid Blue Origin $255,000,000 for New Glenn development costs in exchange for access to engineering data under a terminated agreement originally valued at $500,000,000.
Under EELV Phase 1A in 2019 the Air Force awarded three missions to ULA at an average of $147,200,000 per launch and three missions to SpaceX at an average of $99,000,000 per launch.
In 2016 the Air Force awarded Braxton Science and Technology Group a Small Business Innovation Research contract to explore augmenting the military satellite control network with commercial antennas under a program called Commercial Augmentation Services (CAS).
SatixFy Communications completed a contracted demonstration with OneWeb Technologies and the Air Force Research Lab under the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) initiative.