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
Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess will receive a fourth star and take the helm of the Space Force following a unanimous Aug. 6 vote, approving his nomination to become the third CSO since the service’s establishment in 2019.
As the Space Force implements sweeping acquisition reforms over the next few years that will change the way it sets requirements, manages programs, and fields systems to operators, the head of its acquisition field command wants to ensure all of the change doesn’t disrupt program execution.
The Space-Based Air Moving Targeting Indicator awards, announced Aug. 4, went to Rocket Lab, Systems & Technology Research, and a third firm whose name the service withheld “due to operational security.”
The Air Force’s autonomous test fighter known as the X-62 carried out multiple artificial intelligence-controlled intercepts of a crewed jet in a series of experiments earlier this year, the service said Aug. 4.
AE Industrial closed its purchase of a majority stake in L3Harris’ space propulsion business and plans to re-establish it as Rocketdyne, a nod to its more than 60 years of heritage as a rocket enginemaker.
The Trump administration has tapped three officers for three-star roles in the Air Force and Space Force, including a new director of operations on the Space Staff and a retired officer to return to Active-duty and lead Air University.
The Air Force’s new Collaborative Combat Aircraft may fly scores of missions over many years or only a few if commanders decide a mission is worth the risk of losing one, a top official said this week—a middle ground approach he called “optionally attritable.”
The Space Force expects its nascent airborne moving target indicator program will have a “usable capability” in the next few years—but the official in charge of the program says there’s more work to be done beyond that to refine the sensing, data processing, and orchestration needed to deliver a global…
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