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
U.S. and Canadian military aircraft are on their way to Greenland for a “long-planned” North American Aerospace Defense Command exercise as the future of the Arctic territory’s sovereignty remains in the spotlight.
The Pentagon’s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 took a step toward making an Amazon-like online marketplace for counter-drone tech a reality this week with its first acquisition under the Replicator 2 effort.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week released strategies meant to focus the Pentagon’s “alphabet soup” of innovation organizations and proliferate artificial intelligence—moves that experts say could provide the structure needed to make the military’s efforts to integrate and field new technology more effective.
As the Space Force moves forward with plans to modernize its weather satellite architecture, it’s working closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to share data and leverage the agency’s modeling and validation tools, officials told lawmakers in a Jan. 13 hearing.
The Space Force recently awarded SpaceX $739 million to launch nine missions for the Space Development Agency and National Reconnaissance Office over the next three years. Five of the awarded launches will be to build out SDA’s constellation of missile warning and tracking satellites in low-Earth orbit.
For the Air Force and Space Force, an influx of additional resources could be an opportunity to accelerate a massive modernization portfolio and ramp up aircraft and satellite production, defense analysts and former officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
The Department of the Air Force announced seven new mission area-focused portfolio acquisition executives for the Air Force and Space Force, some of the department's first steps to implement Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's sweeping acquisition reforms.
United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket is slated to fly its second national security mission in February—nearly six months after its first operational launch and almost a year after it was certified to fly military payloads for the Space Force.
Recent reports suggest there is a divide between operations and acquisition in the U.S. Space Force, potentially undermining future combat capabilities. The reality, however, is quite the opposite.
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