Raytheon wins $250 million contract for missile-tracking satellites

By Sandra Erwin, Published by SpaceNews, 2 March 2023 The seven satellites will be part of the Space Development Agency’s Tracking Layer Tranche 1 WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency awarded Raytheon Technologies a $250 million contract to build seven missile-tracking satellites for the agency’s low Earth orbit constellation, the

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Space Force FY24 request likely to jump by billions, but lawmakers may balk: Analyst

By Theresa Hitchens, Published by Breaking Defense, 17 February 2023 While there's broad support on the Hill for space operations, long-time space budget guru Mike Tierney says language in recent policy and appropriations bills suggests lawmakers want Space Force and the Pentagon to "show their work." WASHINGTON — The Defense

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DoD procurement of space tech is evolving, but pace of change is slow

By Sndra Erwin, Published by SpaceNews, 8 February 2023 There is “natural latency” in the procurement system that is going to slow down adoption of commercial technologies WASHINGTON — Top leaders of the Defense Department and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have called for greater adoption of commercial space technologies  and

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Space Development Agency renames constellation to reflect focus on U.S. warfighter

By Sandra Erwin, Published by SpaceNews, 23 January 2023 SDA said the rebranding does not reflect any change to the mission WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency is renaming its planned network of military satellites “Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture,” the agency announced Jan. 23. SDA, a former Defense Department agency

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Lawmakers chart ‘middle course’ on space-based missile warning funding

By Courtney Albon, Published by DefenseNews, 13 January 2023 WASHINGTON — When U.S. Space Force leaders proposed a new missile warning and tracking architecture last year in the service’s budget request, they called it a bridging strategy — a way to maintain existing capabilities until new ones are fielded. “We

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Orbit of Babel: SDA developing ‘translators’ to get data from ISR sats to warfighters

The Space Development Agency will begin launching its Tranche 1 Transport Layer communications mesh network in 2024. (Image: Northrop Grumman) By Theresa Hitchen, Published by Breaking Defense, 26 October 2022 "Translator" payloads are necessary because many of today's commercial remote sensing providers do not, and will not, have the ability

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Defenseless Against Hypersonic Missiles, US Navy Turns To ‘Faster & Lethal’ DEWs To Battle China, Russia – Top Admiral

By Sakshi Tiwari, Published by The Eurasian Times, 28 August 2022 The US Navy is exploring the novel technology of Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs) against Chinese and Russian hypersonic weapons in the absence of a potent defense against these highly maneuverable missiles. The top admiral of the US Navy, Michael

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