World War I, the “war to end all wars,” comes to an end at 11 a.m. The armistice had been signed in a railcar in the forest of Compiegne, France, at 5 a.m. local by Mattias Erzberger, head of the German Catholic Centrists for the Central Powers, and by Marshall Ferdinand Foch for the Allied Powers. At that time, the US had 45 squadrons (of which 38 had been involved in combat) consisting of 767 pilots, 481 observers, and 23 aerial gunners, on the front in France. There were also 37 balloon companies.
The Space Force’s work to establish a pool of at-the-ready commercial satellite capacity during a crisis is moving out of the pilot phase as the service prepares to award its next batch of contracts in 2026.
