The Space Force's first planned satellite launch to begin a new missile warning constellation in medium-Earth orbit has slipped from late 2026 to spring 2027 as a key component remains unproven. But the service is making progress and moving forward with plans for new batches ...
MEO
Space and Missile Defense Leaders Ponder Golden Dome By Unshin Lee Harpley Within a week of his inauguration, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to outline a comprehensive air and missile defense strategy with a focus on advanced space-based interceptors....
Creating the Space Force to counter China and Russia answered a rising threat. Now investments are needed to ensure space superiority. The first Space Race began in October 1957 with the Soviet Union’s successful launch of Sputnik, the first man-made...
Space Systems Command is adding six more satellites to its medium-Earth orbit missile warning/missile tracking constellation, awarding a $386 million contract to Millennium Space Systems.
Small satellites lend themselves to many more applications than simply low-Earth orbit resilience. Russian and Chinese offensive spacepower ambitions are making headlines and are intent on erasing the vital advantage the United States has in space. U.S. defense leadership now...
Project Magellan is the latest maximum endurance operation (MEO), the term for long-haul missions, meant to test Airmen as transport and tanker crews under Air Mobility Command.
The Space Force is working on dozens of new missile warning and tracking satellites that will go across every orbit in space—geosynchronous, polar, medium-Earth, and low-Earth. But a new report from a government watchdog noted issues in those programs could lead to delays and other ...
The Space Force’s planned constellation of missile warning/missile tracking satellites in medium-Earth orbit took a small hit June 17, as the service canceled a contract for three space vehicles due to rising costs and schedule delays. Space Systems Command notified RTX, formerly called Raytheon, that it ...
Medium-Earth orbit—the range of space 2,000 to 35,786 kilometers above the surface mostly known as the home of GPS satellites and not much else—has been getting more and more attention from the Space Force in recent years. In its latest move, the service is eyeing ...
Revelations that Russia is developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon made headlines earlier this month, posing threats to military and civilian satellite constellations. The Space Force aims to counter that risk by doubling down on its “proliferation” strategy, potentially expanding into other orbits, including seldom-used ...
The Space Force’s main acquisition arm, Space Systems Command, announced Nov. 27 it has completed the critical design review for six satellites built by Millennium Space Systems that will go in medium-Earth orbit (MEO), clearing the way to start production ahead of a first scheduled ...
America needs a more resilient missile warning system. Both China and Russia are fielding a new generation of hypersonic, low-flying missiles that U.S. ground-based radars are unable to track in the time needed to provide warning and cue defenses.
