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.
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Orbit Fab won a $12,000,000 deal to ensure its fueling interface works with U.S. military satellites.
Tranche 1 will serve as the backbone for the Department of Defense’s Joint All Domain Command and Control by enabling low-latency data transport, sensor-to-shooter connectivity, and direct-to-weapon connectivity.
The Department of Defense’s Space Development Agency purchased the first eight Tracking Layer satellites in 2020, four from L3Harris and four from a SpaceX–Leidos team.
Tranche 1 will serve as the backbone for the Department of Defense’s Joint All Domain Command and Control built on low-latency data transport, sensor-to-shooter connectivity, and direct-to-weapon connectivity.
The Space Development Agency planned to start buying the next batch of 28 Tracking Layer satellites in 2022 but no funding had been requested in the Pentagon’s budget.
Current Department of Defense geostationary satellites provide global missile warning and detect launches of short-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles but were not designed to track advanced maneuvering missiles like hypersonic glide vehicles.
The $550,000,000 is not sufficient to deploy all 28 Tracking Layer satellites, creating an expectation that the Department of Defense will request additional funding in an upcoming budget proposal.
Senate appropriators initially recommended adding $750,000,000 to the Pentagon’s budget for the program but the House pushed back and Congress compromised on $550,000,000.
Congress directed a $550,000,000 increase to the Pentagon’s 2022 budget to procure sensor satellites and launch them to low Earth orbit to detect and track Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles.
The Pentagon originally planned in the 1990s to deploy a constellation of as many as 24 low-orbiting SBIRS Low satellites to supplement geostationary Space Based Infrared System satellites.
In 2009 the Missile Defense Agency launched two STSS satellites and the Pentagon abandoned the original SBIRS Low goal of a 24-satellite constellation as costs escalated.
The 2022 defense spending bill approved $37,000,000 requested by the Department of Defense for the Space Warfighting Analysis Center.
The 2022 defense spending bill directs the Department of Defense to submit a strategy to integrate commercial satellites across its mission sets.
The fiscal year 2022 defense spending bill gives the Pentagon $743,400,000,000.
The eBee TAC Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) has been approved by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) for procurement by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
senseFly’s eBee drones have been used as an integral asset by the Department of Defense for four years.
Government agencies raised concerns about Momentus’ Russian co-founders, leading Momentus to buy out the co-founders and implement a national security agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of the Treasury.
Terran Orbital and Lockheed Martin teamed on a 2020 contract to build satellites for the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency using small buses from Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc.
Following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, Congress directed the Pentagon to stop using launch vehicles powered by Russian engines and only allowed the Department of Defense to award contracts for Atlas 5 launches through 2022.
The U.S. Defense Department’s Space Development Agency awarded Lockheed Martin a $700,000,000 contract on 2022-02-28 to build 42 satellites by 2024 for a global communications network in low Earth orbit.