America’s launch enterprise has been outperforming expectations for more than a decade, steadily increasing the missions it can support, the pace of resetting launch pads, and the agility to launch on demand. In 2025 alone, the service’s two spaceports,...
Rocket Lab
The Space-Based Air Moving Targeting Indicator awards, announced Aug. 4, went to Rocket Lab, Systems & Technology Research, and a third firm whose name the service withheld “due to operational security.”
The Space Force awarded Rocket Lab $266 million to launch 12 suborbital missions over the next three years—most of them from a new launch pad in Alaska.
Space Force Names 9 New Acquisition Execs By Courtney Albon The Space Force has finalized a major reorganization of its acquisition structure, creating nine mission area-focused portfolio acquisition executives (PAEs) with broad authority over the service’s development and procurement programs. ...
Now that the Space Force has launched satellite into orbit on less than 17 hours’ notice, the companies operating the satellites involved in the mission involved say their space domain awareness and maneuver operations are progressing faster than expected.
The Space Force started its second live Tactically Responsive Space mission June 19, working with a contractor to launch a satellite to low-Earth orbit in less than 17 hours. That spacecraft will now conduct a series of maneuver demonstrations with another vehicle.
Space Force has awarded a $90 million contract to Rocket Lab for satellites to host payloads that tracks objects in geosynchronous orbit.
The Defense Innovation Unit is gearing up for the first flight of its commercially developed hypersonic testbed as soon as the end of February—part of a larger project to quickly increase the cadence of the Pentagon’s hypersonic flight testing and field advanced, high-speed systems and ...
The Space Force’s Space Development Agency announced $3.5 billion in contract awards to four companies to build a total of 72 missile warning and tracking satellites—the largest deal to date for its low-Earth orbit constellation.
An ambitious U.S. military program to explore using rockets to deliver cargo around the globe took another step forward with an announcement of an experimental mission planned for 2026.
The Space Force is adding two new competitors to its top launch program, giving the service an unprecedented number of options for putting satellites into orbit. Rocket Lab and Stoke Space have both been accepted into “Phase 3 Lane 1” of the National Security Space ...
At the most fundamental level, this requires the Space Force to have assured access to space. The Space Force must retain a diverse stable of launch providers, while expanding options for launch locations.
