Some of the satellites that will form the planned “backbone” of joint all-domain command and control may include “translation” payloads to let other satellites feed their data into the Pentagon’s massive mesh network, the head of the Space Development Agency said Oct. 25. SDA is still committed to establishing common standards for networking and communications on the planned National Defense Space Architecture, director Derek M. Tournear said at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Security Forum.

One of the biggest lessons to emerge from the war in Ukraine is that weapons that are in production constitute a credible threat to adversaries, whereas weapons that are merely experimental—or are not actually being made in numbers—are not, according to William LaPlante, the Pentagon’s head of acquisition and sustainment. He said those lessons “amplify” the priorities his organization is pursuing.

Boeing reported a $3.3 billion loss in the third quarter of 2022, driven by deepening woes in its defense business, the company announced Oct. 26. Boeing's defense, space, and security sector lost $2.8 billion in cost overruns on fixed-price development contracts.

The commercial space industry has proven its potential military value since Russia invaded Ukraine—and not just in the fighting. But the Defense Department won’t be able to subscribe to every commercial imagery or communication service and may instead benefit from “some kind of a call-up structure,” said a top Space Force general.