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.
NOAA, NASA, and the Department of Defense began a joint effort more than 20 years ago to acquire the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) to support civilian and military agencies.
Technical challenges in the development of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket could prevent the Department of Defense from ending its reliance on the Russian-made RD-180 engine by 2022 as required by Congress.
In 2016 Congress directed the Department of Defense to stop using launch vehicles powered by Russian engines and allowed DoD to award contracts for Atlas V launches only through 2022.
The Department of Defense launched satellites on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, which uses the RD-180 engine to power its first stage, for decades.
Weather satellites procured by the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce provide meteorological data to numerous national and international organizations.
Delays in the development of Vulcan’s main engine could make it difficult for the Department of Defense to comply with legislation that bans DoD from procuring launches on RD-180-powered vehicles beyond 2022.
United Launch Alliance bid its new Vulcan rocket, which uses the domestically produced BE-4 engine made by Blue Origin, for the DoD launch contract.
The LINCS effort, in partnership with SDA, is one of the first Department of Defense contracted efforts to develop and deploy a 1550 nm Optical Communication Terminal to test increased speed, distance, and variability of communication in space.
The Pentagon’s $8,900,000,000 funding request for the Missile Defense Agency includes $292,800,000 for space programs.
The Pentagon is seeking $936,700,000 in 2022 for the Space Development Agency, about a $600,000,000 increase from 2021.
The Pentagon unveiled details of the president’s funding request for the coming fiscal year on 2021-05-28.
The Space Force awarded five-year launch deals to United Launch Alliance and SpaceX last year to launch Department of Defense and intelligence agency satellites.
GeoBase data collected by Woolpert are deposited into the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s GRiD repository to support other U.S. Department of Defense organizations, including the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy.
Darlene Costello indicated that the Department of Defense has gotten much better at cybersecurity and continues to work with industry partners on the issue.
ISSA is a Government-owned software suite that supports a broad range of Department of Defense and civilian Federal agencies with more than 5,000 active users on classified networks.
Five-year Pentagon budget projections submitted early in 2020 showed $750,000,000 in total funding for EWS between 2018 and 2025 with $131,000,000 in 2021 ramping to $174,000,000 in 2022.
Funding for WSF-M totaled nearly $210,000,000 in 2020 before falling to $86,000,000 for 2021 according to Pentagon projections referenced in the article.
Australia’s Department of Defence will establish a Space Division headquarters within the Royal Australian Air Force in early 2022.
Starfish received U.S. Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research funding to develop mobility and logistics technology.
Congressional legislation prohibits the Department of Defense from awarding contracts for Atlas 5 launches after 2022-12-31, due to the Atlas 5 using the Russian RD-180 main engine.