US Strategic Command’s space component—Joint Functional Component Command for Space—recently concluded an exercise that allowed the command to practice delivering synchronized space effects through a contested environment. Global Lightning 16 ran from April 23 to April 28, but was in the works for a year, according to a May 3 release. The annual exercise focused on STRATCOM’s capabilities provided to geographic combatant commanders during a crisis or contingency, according to the release. This time, the Commercial Integration Cell, overseen by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, played a larger role in the exercise and integrated commercial space operators into the Joint Space Operations Center.
Facing competition from fast-growing startups, Lockheed Martin is speeding up production of an “affordable, scalable” hypersonic glide body, dubbed the Next Generation Glide Body, the firm said in a June 24 release.