The Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., has issued a final request for proposals for the Transformational Satellite Communications System space segment. The contract could be worth up to $15 billion. Teams led by Boeing and Lockheed Martin have been vying for TSAT, both successfully completing system design reviews earlier this year. The Air Force expects to launch the first TSAT spacecraft in 2016. Congress withheld some TSAT funding last year, but they seem inclined this year to support the Administration request.
Advancements in commercial space technology could make President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense network far more likely to succeed than the failed “Star Wars” strategic umbrella initiative of the 1980s, U.S. Space Command’s top general said May 22....