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 Space Force activated a geostationary weather satellite transferred to the Air Force by NOAA in 2019.
The fourth GPS 3 vehicle is scheduled to launch 2020-09-29 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on a new Falcon 9 that SpaceX will attempt to recover.
The 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base is providing more meaningful data on approximately 25,000 space objects tracked by the U.S. military.
In a second phase of testing scheduled to begin in early 2021, the Air Force and Army plan to evaluate whether Isotropic Systems antennas can connect simultaneously with an SES geostationary satellite and an SES O3b satellite in medium Earth orbit.
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite was slated to launch 2020-11-10 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9.
The Department of the Air Force, the Missile Defense Agency, the Space Development Agency, and others are planning to spend tens of billions of dollars pursuing various potential satellite constellations with a variety of sensor types, constellation sizes, and orbits ranging from proliferated low Earth to geosynchronous.
The funds that must transfer from the Air Force to the Space Force include $2,600,000,000 for operations and maintenance, $77,000,000 for emergency war spending, $10,300,000,000 for research, development, testing and evaluation, and $2,200,000,000 for procurement.
The U.S. Space Force does not foresee shifting polar-orbit launches and launch infrastructure investments from Vandenberg Air Force Base to Cape Canaveral.
Relativity Space reached an agreement with the U.S. Air Force in June to study establishing a new launch site at Vandenberg.
The Air Force awarded Brandywine Photonics a $1,500,000 SBIR contract in 2018 for a two-year effort to develop the Theater Weather Imaging and Cloud Characterization Sensor (TWICCS).
In 2019 the Air Force awarded Brandywine Photonics an additional $3,000,000 to expand TWICCS to meet government requirements for image resolution and revisit rates.
Air Force and Space Force programs will leverage digital engineering to reduce design and testing time and will use digital engineering principles to design, code, and build systems.
The central task for companies selected to DEUCSI over the subsequent three years is to assist the U.S. Air Force in understanding technical issues related to equipping military platforms with communication terminals that can communicate with satellites from multiple broadband providers.
Brandywine Photonics is developing weather instruments and proposing constellation architectures under Air Force Small Business Innovation Research awards.
Under a 2019 Air Force phase two SBIR contract worth nearly $750,000, Brandywine Photonics is developing the Compact Hyperspectral Infrared Sounding Instrument to measure atmospheric temperature and moisture and to monitor winds in three dimensions.
Two of the final five Delta IV Heavy missions scheduled between now and 2024 will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Relativity Space reached an initial agreement with the U.S. Air Force in June 2020 to set up a second launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Northrop Grumman won a $13,300,000,000 Air Force contract to produce solid rocket motors for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent intercontinental ballistic missile program.
GOES-13 was launched in 2006 aboard a Boeing Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The U.S. Air Force entered discussions with NOAA in 2017 about the possibility of taking over one of NOAA’s GOES satellites.