Space Force sees SATCOM awards surging to $20 billion this fiscal year

Northrop Grumman and Boeing are both developing prototypes for the Evolved Strategic SATCOM program. (Northrop Grumman) By Courtney Albon, Published by Defense News, 26 October 2023 WASHINGTON — As the Space Force looks to modernize its military satellite communications and positioning, navigation and timing capabilities, its acquisition command is preparing

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SDA gets OK to begin limited testing of data satellites Link 16 nodes

Link 16 is a tactical military data network, used by US and NATO air-, sea- and land-base platforms. (Viasat image.) By Theresa Hitchens, Published by Breaking Defense, 26 October 2023 WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency (SDA) finally can begin testing Link-16 signals from its Transport Layer of data relay satellites in low Earth

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Space Force planning $8 billion satellite architecture for nuclear command and control

The Space Force is buying new satellites to augment the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) strategic communications satellites. Credit: Northrop Grumman By Sandra Erwin, Published by SpaceNews, 25 October 2023 A request for proposals is expected in early 2024 for the space segment of the Evolved Strategic

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Airbus and Northrop Grumman shake on pact for UK’s lucrative SKYNET satellite program

A new space based agreement between Airbus and Northrop Grumman will see the manufacturers share “experience, knowledge and capability” to meet UK SKYNET military satellite requirements (Airbus) By Tim Martin, Published by Breaking Defense, 24 October 2023 Airbus already holds a contract valued at more than £500 million ($610 million)

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What role should industry play in military space operations? The Space Force is working on a strategy for that.

The Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites April 7 was the 10th Falcon 9 launch of 2021, eight of which have been dedicated to Starlink. Credit: 45th Space Wing By Audrey Decker, Published by Defense One, 18 October 2023 The service will release a plan for how to integrate commercial

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Chinese scientists take a step closer to 6G with optical switch

To address demands, networks need to become three-dimensional in the future By Ameya Paleja, Published by Interesting Engineering, 16 October 2023 Scientists at the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences have successfully tested optical switching in space for the first time, South China Morning

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