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.
President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on 2018-06-18 to set up a Space Force but has not yet signed Space Policy Directive-4 to lay out the steps ahead.
The draft SPD-4 directs the Pentagon to form a Space Development Agency in fiscal year 2019 and specifies that the SDA would be organized under the Department of Defense until the Department of the Space Force is formed.
The EMSS contract serves an unlimited number of Defense Department and other federal government subscribers.
Congress passed a law in 2015 prohibiting the Pentagon from launching satellites on vehicles that use the Russian RD-180 engine.
The Space and Missile Analysis Group is part of the intelligence community and supports the Department of Defense.
President Trump announced his intent to create a Space Force at the council’s third public meeting on 2018-06-18 at the White House and directed the Department of Defense to begin the process to establish a Space Force as a sixth branch of the armed forces.
Congress inserted $73,000,000 into the Pentagon’s 2019 budget to start work on a Space Sensor Layer program.
Futures Command is studying which capabilities to develop internally versus as an enterprise with the Department of Defense.
The Pentagon is currently focused on the budget proposal for fiscal year 2020, affecting future space funding allocations.
The U.S. Defense Department regularly pays more than commercial satellite operators to launch military payloads on rockets from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX.
The Small Spacecraft Prototyping Engineering Development and Integration – Space Solutions IDIQ contract will support the Department of Defense’s Space Rapid Capabilities Office to expedite procurement of commercially developed small to medium spacecraft.
President Donald Trump directed the Defense Department on 2018-06-18 to stand up a new military service for space.
The Pentagon initiated multiple reorganization efforts after 2018-06-18, including a legislative proposal and a fiscal year 2020 budget submission related to the space reorganization.
The Department of Defense is unhappy with the $13,000,000,000 estimate for a Space Force but has not provided an alternative cost estimate.
Capella Space previously won an $11,000,000 contract from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit.
The House is poised to vote on an appropriations package for fiscal year 2019 that gives the Defense Department $674.4 billion, an increase of $19,800,000,000 over 2018.
President Donald Trump in June ordered the Department of Defense to create a service for space with status equal to the Army, Navy and Air Force.
The Department of Defense has a very short period of time to create and grow a new organization in order to meet the fiscal year 2020 budget submission timeline.
If Congress provides authority and resources to establish a Space Force headquarters in fiscal year 2020, the Department of Defense could build the foundation of a new department enabling the Air Force to transfer personnel and programs in fiscal year 2021 after congressional approval.
In his 2018-09-10 directive, Patrick Shanahan directed the Pentagon’s chief management officer to start the process of creating an assistant secretary of defense for space and to coordinate with the White House Liaison Office on candidate identification.