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.
Firefly Aerospace scheduled its Alpha launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for a date described as occurring a few short weeks after 2021-01-26.
The U.S. Air Force awarded Launch Service Agreements to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, and United Launch Alliance in October 2018.
Kayhan Space Corp. received two Small Business Innovation Research contracts from the U.S. Air Force to support satellite tracking efforts.
The 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base will attempt to track as many as 143 commercial and government satellites deployed by Transporter-1.
The fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act directs the Department of the Air Force and the Space Force to propose by May a revamped space acquisition process.
Space Policy Directive 3 directed the Air Force to transition civil space traffic management activities to the Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce in June 2018.
Maxar plans to launch its first two next-generation WorldView Legion satellites as early as September 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The U.S. Air Force created the Space Enterprise Consortium in 2017 to attract startups and commercial companies from the space industry to bid on military projects.
The Air Force revealed the shortlist of U.S. Space Command candidate locations on 2020-11-19.
On 2021-01-13, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett selected Redstone Arsenal as the future location of U.S. Space Command headquarters one day before stepping down from her post.
The Department of the Air Force anticipated making a final decision on the permanent location of U.S. Space Command headquarters in spring 2023, pending the results of the required environmental impact analysis.
The Air Force launched the U.S. Space Command basing selection process in May with an open bidding process that received bids from 24 states.
The demonstration confirmed live contacts with Space Force satellites across multiple orbital regimes at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.
The Department of the Air Force anticipates making a final decision for the location of the U.S. Space Command Headquarters in spring 2023 pending the results of the required environmental impact analysis.
Aerojet Rocketdyne originally developed the AR1 with U.S. Air Force funding as a possible replacement for the Russian RD-180 engine.
In 2016 the U.S. Air Force awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a contract worth more than $800,000,000 for development, testing, and certification of the AR1.
NextGen Federal Systems has been awarded the Global Synthetic Weather Radar (GSWR) Research to Operations (R2O) contract by the US Air Force.
The updated GSWR capability will be integrated into the Air Force Weather Virtual Private Cloud.
NextGen will contribute significantly to the Air Force Weather mission through the GSWR program.
SMC is facilitating international access to and availability of M-code user equipment as directed by the Secretary of the Air Force and the Office of the Secretary of Defense to 58 authorized nations.