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 Air Force paid $146,500,000 for NROL-101’s rocket.
The 2019-09-30 Launch Operations Support contract covers infrastructure and launch pad maintenance, range support contractors at Vandenberg Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, satellite encapsulation, and propellants.
The Air Force previously procured five Delta 4 Heavy rockets for these missions under contracts awarded to ULA in 2017 and 2018.
The Air Force procured Delta 4 Heavy rockets for NROL-44 and NROL-82 in fiscal year 2017 under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Phase 1 Block Buy contract with ULA.
The Air Force will award a separate completion contract on 2019-10-01 for launch support operations for the three Atlas 5 missions.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 directed the Air Force to discontinue the EELV Launch Capability contract by 2019-12-31 for Atlas 5 and by 2020-12-31 for Delta 4 launch services.
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded United Launch Alliance a five-year $1,180,000,000 contract for Launch Operations Support to complete the last planned five Delta 4 Heavy National Reconnaissance Office missions from 2020 through 2024.
Under the EELV Phase 1 Block Buy contract with ULA, the Air Force agreed to buy 36 launch vehicle booster cores over a five-year period.
Blue Origin’s protest seeks to compel the Air Force to break the five-year Phase 2 block-buy into smaller lots of launches to create more frequent competitions and on-ramps for new entrants.
Blue Origin filed a pre-award protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office on 2019-08-12 challenging the Air Force’s Phase 2 launch service procurement.
The Space Development Agency plans to integrate its layers into the ground enterprise being developed by the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center for command and control of military satellites.
The Air Force intends to select two winners in 2020 to split national security launch missions on a 60/40 basis for launches from 2022 to 2026.
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander will be launched on a Vulcan Centaur rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
In Phase 2 the Air Force will select two launch providers from a field of four competitors that includes United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman.
SpaceX must demonstrate with the single-core Falcon 9 and the three-core Falcon Heavy that it can meet all mass/orbit combinations required by the Air Force to win a Phase 2 contract.
Space Test Program-2 was a U.S. government-funded space launch managed by the Air Force.
In February the Air Force selected Falcon Heavy for the AFSPC-44 mission as part of a $297,000,000 contract that also includes two Falcon 9 launches for NRO satellites NROL-85 and NROL-87.
In June 2018 the Air Force awarded SpaceX a $130,000,000 contract to launch the Air Force Space Command-52 (AFSPC-52) satellite aboard Falcon Heavy.
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded The Aerospace Corp. a $1,080,000,000 modification to a previously awarded contract for systems engineering and integration support for national security space programs.
The Commerce Department’s Space Policy Directive 3 initiative includes creating an open architecture data repository (OADR) to combine Air Force data with commercial and allied sources.