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.
Space Systems Command was established on 2021-08-13 at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.
The U.S. Air Force selected United Launch Alliance as one of its NSSL Phase 2 providers in August 2020.
Hughes Network Systems, LLC holds one of several prime positions on a U.S. Air Force indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a ceiling of $950,000,000 to support the Advanced Battle Management System.
Hughes will deploy intelligent multi-transport technologies, including its Terminal Management Agent, to provide resilient networking for Air Force mission assurance.
AFWERX was created by the U.S. Air Force in 2017.
The U.S. Air Force began offering ‘Special’ SBIR topics starting with SBIR 18.2 and continuing with X20.3 that are faster, leaner, and open to a broader range of innovations.
The Air Force created AFWERX in 2017 to tap private sector investment and help bring nascent technologies relevant to national security to market.
Orbital ATK secured nearly $800,000,000 in 2018 in Air Force funding to support the OmegA project.
Larry James, a retired Air Force three-star general, has been deputy director of JPL since 2013.
The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $7,200,000,000 contract in 2018 with options to produce up to 22 GPS III Follow-on (GPS 3F) satellites.
Raytheon was selected by the Air Force to develop the Next Generation GPS Operational Control System (OCX) for GPS III, with an estimated cost of $6,700,000,000.
The Department of Defense requested $434,000,000 in its budget proposal for M-code-compatible GPS receiver cards for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps platforms.
GPS III satellites are built by Lockheed Martin under a 2008 contract from the U.S. Air Force with navigation payloads supplied by L3Harris.
On 2021-08-09, the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Rocket Systems Launch Program Office at Kirtland Air Force Base added ABL Space Systems, Astra Space, and Relativity Space to the OSP-4 vendor pool.
The U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $462,000,000 contract in 2018 to maintain the existing GPS ground control system until 2025.
The Air Force in 2018 awarded Lockheed Martin a $462,000,000 contract to maintain the existing GPS ground control system until 2025.
The collaboration on CICERO-2 GNSS-R development is jointly funded by GeoOptics, the U.S. Air Force, and NASA.
The Air Force first selected Colorado-based Braxton Technologies in 2017 to develop a ground enterprise concept under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.
The Air Force awarded Braxton Technologies $19,800,000 and $75,000,000 follow-on contracts in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Schriever Air Force Base will become a U.S. Space Force base and will be renamed Schriever Space Force Base in a ceremony planned for 2021-07-26.