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 Space Force has officially established its component to U.S. Special Operations Command, creating a ninth component charged with presenting space expertise to commanders in the field.
All of the U.S. military services are pursuing capabilities to complement GPS amid concerns that the constellation is increasingly vulnerable to interference, but a new government watchdog report calls for better coordination and prioritization among those efforts to avoid delays and duplication.
The Space Force has finished transferring the last of the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members covered by the Personnel Management Act that created a hybrid full-time/part-time force.
After scrapping a long-delayed program to build a next-generation GPS ground system earlier this year, the Space Force and prime contractor Lockheed Martin are pushing toward delivery of the capability in time to support the first launch of the newest GPS satellites, currently planned for 2028.
The Space Force is looking for industry feedback on its plans to create a new “Mission Development Zone” at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., to support launch providers with space for additional payload processing capacity, test and assembly facilities, and potentially rocket and spacecraft manufacturing infrastructure.
The Space Development Agency is set to launch 21 Tranche 1 data transport satellites on Oct. 5—its fourth Tranche 1 mission since last fall and the first to carry Northrop Grumman-built satellites.
The Air Force adjusted its fiscal 2026 recruiting goal down by a few hundred enlisted Airmen due to higher-than-expected retention and the number of available training slots—but it is aiming high in fiscal 2027 with its biggest goal for the Active-Duty Air Force in nearly 25 years, and the Space…
Some lawmakers in the Senate are advocating for a more bipartisan approach to paying for the Pentagon’s $185 billion Golden Dome missile defense project, arguing that the effort’s goal of bolstering homeland defenses has support across ideological lines but the process for funding it has been politically charged—leaving the program’s…
More than 50 years after the U.S. military launched its first Defense Support Program satellite, the Space Force has officially decommissioned the missile warning constellation as it prepares to start fielding its next-generation architecture.
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