The Air Force has finalized its Next-Generation Air Dominance acquisition strategy and expects to know by next month whether it will be adopted as part of the Pentagon's fiscal year 2022 budget request.
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Courtney Albon was senior editor for aviation and space at Inside Defense until December 2021. She covered the Air Force since 2012, reporting largely on space programs and fighter aircraft acquisition, development and budget from inside Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and from military installations around the United States. Courtney previously worked as a general assignment reporter at The Ashland Times-Gazette in Ashland, OH, covering education and local government. She graduated from American University in 2008, where she studied journalism and sociology.
The Air Force has finalized its Next-Generation Air Dominance acquisition strategy and expects to know by next month whether it will be adopted as part of the Pentagon's fiscal year 2022 budget request.
The Space Force has selected United Launch Alliance and SpaceX to receive contracts under its Launch Services Procurement program, with ULA receiving 60% of the manifest and SpaceX the remaining 40%.
The White House today nominated Lt. Gen. David Thompson to be the vice chief of space operations -- the Space Force's second in command.
The Space Force announced this week it has completed a major upgrade to its GPS Military-Code signal that will improve anti-jamming and anti-spoofing capabilities for users.
The Space and Missile Systems Center's portfolio architect said this week that as the Space Force works to define its operational, enterprise and systems architectures, it is seeing increased opportunities to partner with commercial entities in areas like satellite communications, weather characterization and regional missile defense.
The 30th Space Wing, in partnership with the governor of California and local academic and economic development agencies, announced today a memorandum of understanding to establish a spaceport at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA.
As Space Force leaders establish the service's new field command focused on space acquisition and development, efforts in recent years to re-architect the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center will help set the foundation for the new organization.
The Air Force's new Virtual Test and Training Center is on track to formally stand up next summer -- nearly four years after the service announced its intent to establish a hub for advanced synthetic training that could eventually integrate joint and international partners.
The Air Force is developing implementation plans for a series of reforms aimed at improving space acquisition as a key report due in late March -- meant to lay out those reforms and request legislative approval where needed -- awaits final approval from the White House.
Welcome to today’s Space Briefing -- a biweekly roundup of the latest national security space news.
The acting head of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Peter Highnam, said today the organization has no plans to pursue a follow-on to the DARPA Launch Challenge, after the competition ended in March without a winner.
The White House this week announced four nominees for Space Force leadership positions to be considered by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Air Force this summer awarded L3Harris Technologies a 10-year, $900 million contract to help the service establish a common aircraft simulator architecture and is now working with the company to implement the initial task order, which focuses on cybersecurity and installing a remote scanning capability at nine locations.
A new report on the state of the space industrial base released today highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on space companies, and urges the Defense Department to take advantage of "offensive and defensive economic tools" to support technology development that will be key to a healthy industry base today and in the future.
After terminating its contract with Raytheon and announcing a new acquisition strategy in January, the Air Force's Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar program office is preparing for demonstrations beginning next month that will help the service select a new provider capable of integrating and producing a system at a pace it hopes will keep the program on schedule to reach initial operational capability by fiscal year 2024.
As part of its effort to transition to a new logistics information framework, the Operational Data Integrated Network, the F-35 joint program office plans to begin installing hardware this September that can run software from both the legacy and the new systems until ODIN is fully deployed.
Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord confirmed today the Defense Contract Management Agency has begun negotiations with F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin, seeking compensation from the company for delivering parts designated as not ready for issue.
The Air Force today formally released its Arctic strategy -- which calls for enhanced missile defense, space and polar mobility capabilities, greater collaboration with allies and partners in the Arctic region and improved and expanded readiness and training exercises.
The Defense Department announced Monday it will buy the eight F-35A aircraft originally intended for delivery to Turkey and modify them for the Air Force.
Welcome to today's Space Briefing -- a biweekly roundup of the latest national security space news.