The Department of Defense (DOD) is a U.S. government agency responsible for military and national security space activities. It acts as a major procurer and operator of space systems, including launch vehicles and satellite systems for reconnaissance, missile launch detection, navigation, and communication. The DOD aims to maintain space superiority, integrate military space power, and ensure space stability, working with commercial firms to integrate space solutions into national security architectures.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
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.
The Pentagon’s 2024 budget request includes $2,100,000,000 for 10 NSSL missions and forecasts 30 additional NSSL missions worth $8,400,000,000 for 2025 to 2028.
NSSL Phase 3 aims to procure reliable launch services for traditional military and intelligence heavy-lift missions while seeking smaller, medium-size rockets for a proliferated Pentagon constellation in low Earth orbit.
The Defense Department will provide Aerojet Rocketdyne $215,600,000 to expand rocket propulsion manufacturing facilities to speed production of missiles for Ukraine.
The Pentagon budgeted $529,000,000 in 2024 to launch five batches of satellites to low Earth orbit for the Space Development Agency, with an additional 11 SDA missions worth $1,400,000,000 planned for 2025 to 2028.
The United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur vehicle must complete two orbital flights before certification for national security launches and the Vulcan program received nearly $1,000,000,000 in Pentagon investment for development.
The Sidus Space and L3Harris Mentor-Protégé Program agreement will expand Sidus Space’s supplier relationship with L3Harris and strengthen Sidus Space’s ability to provide global customers, including the Department of Defense and other defense agencies, with Space-as-a-Service solutions such as satellite services and space-based data offerings.
Over the past five years, the Department of Defense Mentor-Protégé Program has supported more than 190 businesses in their efforts to fill unique niches within the military’s supply chain ecosystem.
The Department of Defense Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP) helps businesses expand their footprint in the defense industrial base by supporting their partnering efforts with larger companies such as L3Harris.
The Mentor-Protégé Program is designed to enhance Sidus Space’s capabilities to operate more effectively within the Department of Defense supplier base.
The 2023-03-14 CRS-27 mission also carried a Department of Defense payload, STP-H9, that includes eight spaceflight experiments.
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.
The contracted demonstration tested SatixFy’s new antenna for use by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Department of Defense is requesting $360,000,000 for the PTS program in fiscal year 2024 and estimates total PTS spending up to $2,400,000,000 by 2028.
The Department of Defense expects two PTS prototype payloads to be available for launch in fiscal year 2025 as payloads on Boeing’s WGS-11 (hosted) and Northrop Grumman’s ESPAStar-HP satellites (free-flyer).
Congress and the Department of Defense created the U.S. Space Force in 2019.
The Pentagon allocated $700,000,000 in 2023 and $500,000,000 in 2024 to fund a total of 12 Space Development Agency launches.
When Tranche 1 is deployed, the Department of Defense will be able to concentrate coverage over some regions but not provide full global coverage.
The Satellite Control Network provides telemetry, tracking, command, communication and control (TT&C3) for more than 170 Department of Defense, National Reconnaissance Office, civil, and allied satellites.
The Department of Defense determined that satellites in low orbit at about 1,0 m above Earth are better positioned to track hypersonic missiles in all flight phases than geostationary satellites at about 37,0 m above Earth.