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 legislative proposal to establish a Space Force would need to specify the service’s scope to determine how much money the Pentagon must request in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget.
The Department of Defense plans to stand up the Space Development Agency to develop and acquire space technologies.
The Department of Defense planned to stand up the Space Development Agency in early 2019.
FalconSat-6 will be the first Defense Department satellite to use a commercial cloud-based ground network.
Commission co-chairs Eric Edelman and retired Navy Adm. Gary Roughead identified the possibility that the Pentagon could face funding cuts in 2020 as a result of Trump administration efforts to cut federal spending.
A 2018-11-19 version of the draft policy would direct the Pentagon to propose a Space Force as a separate military branch with its own civilian leadership.
The Department of Defense is evaluating the back-office and supporting efforts required to establish a Space Force.
Shanahan and Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin advocate for an overhaul in the way the Department of Defense procures technology.
Shanahan stated that the Department of Defense has made leveraging commercial technology too complicated, and the Space Development Agency would simplify this process.
The White House directed the Pentagon to lower the projected national defense funding top line for fiscal year 2020 from $733,000,000,000 to $700,000,000,000.
APT works under contracts to support safety at more than 40 U.S. government agencies, including NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, and the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board.
Congress directed the Department of Defense in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act to hire an independent think tank to analyze the cost of a space service.
A secret Center for Naval Analyses report circulating in the Pentagon produced cost estimates for a new space service (not including Space Command) that are consistent with Heather Wilson’s $13,000,000,000 five-year estimate.
The 10th Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite is scheduled to launch in 2019, and Congress inserted funding for WGS 11 and 12 in the Pentagon’s 2018 budget.
Todd Harrison estimated it would cost the Pentagon an additional $1,500,000,000 to $2,700,000,000 over five years to stand up a new Space Force, based on the assumption that more than 96 percent of the cost would be covered from existing DoD budget accounts.
The Pentagon is moving to establish a U.S. Space Command and a Space Development Agency in early 2019.
Tom Becht is the military satcom director at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center and called for companies to team up and offer services as a consortium to supply the Department of Defense more commercial capability.
The Defense Department’s political appointees generally support the establishment of the Space Force.
The U.S. Department of Defense prefers flexibility to buy from many vendors and does not want to commit to a single provider for satcom services.
Congress appropriated $49,500,000 in the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2019 budget to set up the new Air Force Space Command office for commercial satcom procurement.