The Vandenberg Tracking Station is a remote tracking station, located near Santa Maria, Calif., operating within the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN). This collection of remote tracking stations allow space operations centers (SOCs) to communicate with their space assets.Tech. Sgt. JT Armstrong)
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2025 USAF & USSF Almanac: USSF Space Systems
June 20, 2025
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Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
The Air Force’s BACN may be cooked—the service plans to retire its entire E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node fleet in fiscal 2028 and equip aircraft to use satellite communications instead.
The Air Force Research Laboratory is undergoing a major reorganization, consolidating 11 of its organizations into seven as part of a broader Pentagon effort to get more technology from the lab to users in the field.
Anticipating significant demand in the coming years for reconnaissance and surveillance satellites, the Space Force is increasing the ceiling value of its recently awarded Andromeda contract from $1.8 billion to more than $6.2 billion.
The Space Force plans to stand up a Mission Operations Center to manage the backbone of its hybrid commercial-government data transport constellation, the Space Data Network.
Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess has been nominated by President Donald Trump to become the next Chief of Space Operations, the top uniformed leader in the U.S. Space Force.
The Space Force plans to expand the scope of its data transport constellation in the next few years, kick-starting a competition to bring on new commercial capabilities and procuring nine launches in fiscal 2027 to support the hybrid satellite communications network.
The Space Force is proposing to cancel a $3.4 billion program intended to provide missile warning and tracking coverage of the northern polar region as part of its 2027 budget request.
The Space Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request includes about $2.5 billion for commercial services like satellite communications and off-the-shelf capabilities, but officials say commercial components and technology are embedded throughout programs, making the true allocation much higher.
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