Contractor Lockheed Martin says its second Milstar communications satellite now has surpassed its 10-year design life. The company’s first one has been in orbit for more than 11 years. USAF launched the first one built by the Lockheed team on Feb. 7, 1994, and the second on Nov. 6, 1995.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.

