A notional image of one of the Space Development Agency's first transport layer satellites. (Lockheed Martin)

The US military wants to plug commercial satellites into its orbital networks

By Nathan Strout, Published by C4ISRNET, 23 December 2021 WASHINGTON — The U.S. military wants to directly plug commercial imagery satellites into its forthcoming orbital networks, enabling soldiers in the field to access that data faster. The military has become increasingly interested in using satellite imagery to extend its situational

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An artist's depiction of L3Harris' tracking layer satellite, which will be part of a solution designed by the Space Development Agency and the Missile Defense Agency to track and target hypersonic weapons from space. (L3Harris Technologies)

New hypersonic missile-tracking satellites pass critical design review

By Nathan Strout, Published by C4ISRNet, 21 December 2021 WASHINGTON — The prototype satellites that will help the U.S. Missile Defense Agency track hypersonic threats have passed a critical design review, meaning the contractors can move forward with manufacturing. The Missile Defense Agency selected L3Harris Technologies and Northrop Grumman in

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency started the Blackjack program in 2018 to demonstrate the utility of small satellites in low Earth orbit for military operations. Credit: DARPA

Parsons to develop ground operations center for DARPA’s Blackjack satellites

By Sandra Erwin, Published by Space News, 11 December 2021 Parsons won a Small Business Innovation Research Phase 3 award for a 'Blackjack Prototype Ground Operations Center' WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Parsons a $10.8 million contract to prototype a ground operations center for the agency’s

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