Courtney Albon
Courtney Albon is the Space Editor at Air & Space Forces Magazine. She has been covering the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. During that time, she has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges, including the F-35 fighter jet, hypersonic capability development and the creation of the Space Force.
Recent stories by Courtney Albon
Space Force Accepts Meadowlands SATCOM Jammers
The Space Force has accepted its first Meadowlands satellite communications jammer from prime contractor L3Harris and is poised to start using the system in operations next year.
Snakes, Sharks, and Ghosts: Space Force Reveals Themes for Naming Platforms
In a move to better connect Guardians with the space systems they operate, the Space Force on Dec. 11 revealed a new naming scheme for its platforms.
USSF to Keep Implementing Space-Focused Elements of Re-Optimization
Weeks after senior Air Force leaders revealed the service would shed a number of the re-optimization initiatives pursued by their predecessors, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman confirmed the Space Force is retaining all of the space-specific elements of the strategy.
Lawmakers Push Funding Boost for Space Force Data Transport and Polar Missile Warning
The final version of the fiscal 2026 defense policy bill calls for adding $1.2 billion to the Space Force’s research and development accounts, an increase that’s mostly split between two efforts: expanding the service’s low-Earth orbit data transport network and boosting its space-based missile warning ...
USSF Eyes More Space-Based Interceptors to Take Missiles Out Midcourse
The Space Force is requesting prototype proposals for space-based interceptors that can destroy a missile during the midcourse phase of flight, on top of its previous efforts to develop interceptors that take down missiles in their boost phase.
Northrop Tests New Rocket Motor as Part of Innovation Push
Northrop Grumman test fired its newest solid rocket motor Dec. 4, part of an internally funded effort to rapidly design and build SRMs using advanced manufacturing techniques.
SDA Back on Track to Award Satellite Contracts After Funds Went to Troop Shutdown Pay
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government ...
Report: Space Force and SPACECOM Need Cross-Domain Support to Gain Superiority
For decades, the Pentagon has viewed space as a “supporting” domain to enable operations in the land, sea, and air. But a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies argues the time has come to consider how ops in those domains can now ...
MDA Picks Diverse Contractor Pool to Compete for Homeland Defense Projects
The Missile Defense Agency chose a diverse pool of more than 1,000 companies to compete for task orders through its Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered defense effort—a $151 billion contract mechanism to experiment, test, and prototype capabilities for Golden Dome and other homeland defense needs.
NRO’s Proliferated Satellite Constellation Outperforming Expectations
The National Reconnaissance Office is seeing “great output” from its constellation of proliferated low Earth orbit satellites and is working with the Space Force and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to operationalize the capability, according to Deputy Director Maj. Gen. Chris Povak.
Space Force Weighs Range Upgrades to Support Reusable Rockets
The Space Force is planning improvements at its launch ranges to better accommodate the logistics and infrastructure demands that come with the launch industry’s shift toward reusable rockets, according to the commanders of the service’s two launch deltas.
Space Force Plans Surveillance Sats to Complement RG-XX Reconnaissance Fleet
The Space Force’s strategy to replace its fleet of neighborhood watch satellites in geosynchronous orbit includes plans to field multiple satellite constellations, one focused on reconnaissance and one focused on surveillance that will autonomously track objects in GEO, the service said in a Nov. 26 notice.
Space Force Seeks Innovative New Battle Management, C2 Tools
For the last few years, through a little-known program called Kronos, the Space Force has been consolidating and modernizing its suite of legacy systems that provide operators with intelligence tools and command-and-control capabilities in an increasingly contested space environment. Now, USSF is reaching out to ...
Space Force Awards First Contracts for Golden Dome’s Space-Based Interceptors
The Space Force has awarded initial prototype contracts to multiple firms to develop space-based interceptors designed to take down missile threats within minutes after launch.
Report: Space Force Needs More Funding, Training to Counter China’s Space Ambitions
The Space Force needs to invest more resources in cutting-edge technologies—including launch and simulation capabilities—to maintain the upper hand over China in space, according to a congressional commission tasked with tracking threats from Beijing.
