As commercial companies, universities, and research agencies develop new approaches to operating satellites at lower and lower altitudes, the Space Force is taking notice and considering how it might leverage those advances in both the near and long term.
AFRL
The Air Force Research Lab has awarded quantum computing firm IonQ a $7.5 million follow-on contract to bridge the gap between the lab and the field for the highly advanced technology.
The Air Force Research Laboratory plans to launch its latest technology challenge next month—a project meant to speed up development of systems that can operate beyond geosynchronous orbit. SpaceWERX is leading the effort, dubbed Cislunar Prime. The space innovation hub is looking for commercial capabilities that ...
The Air Force has awarded Castelion, a venture capital-backed defense startup founded in 2022, a contract to integrate its hypersonic Blackbeard missile onto the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
The Air Force Research Laboratory wants industry to advance concepts for affordable hypersonic munition engines to prototype demonstrations within three to four years.
When a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., on Oct. 20, it carried with it the usual mix of micro-satellites and cubesats built by a wide range of companies looking to catch a ride into orbit, and also ...
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic announced a new partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s space warfare directorate to collect and share space weather data from the company’s suborbital spacecraft, due for its first commercial flight next year.
The Air Force Research Laboratory has signaled to industry it wants to develop a low-cost hypersonic cruise missile to deliver a wide range of payloads at a range up to 500 nautical miles.
Space Force Accelerates On-Orbit Refueling By Courtney Albon As the Space Force makes plans for two on-orbit refueling and maneuver demonstrations in 2027—and closely watches similar government and commercial endeavors—the service official overseeing the effort says he want to take...
The Air Force Research Laboratory installed its newest commander, Brig. Gen. Douglas Wickert, in a June 3 ceremony at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Wickert most recently served as director of air, space, and cyber operations at Air Force Materiel Command, and before that, he led ...
A yearslong effort to find an affordable way to turn cargo planes into strike platforms is now an official program with anticipated fielding in 2027.
The Air Force Research Laboratory is undergoing a major reorganization, consolidating 11 of its organizations into seven as part of a broader Pentagon effort to get more technology from the lab to users in the field.