US Space Force News

[James1978]

Space Command seeks $1.2 billion to counter threats in orbit
By Courtney Albon
22 March 2024

U.S. Space Command officials are advocating for an additional $1.2 billion in fiscal 2025 funding to boost the military’s offensive and defense space capabilities and strengthen its ability to observe and detect adversary activity in orbit.

The bulk of the request — more than $800 million — would support classified programs to develop capabilities aimed at deterring and fending off aggression from Russia and China. That includes a U.S. Navy Mobile Counterspace Capability and an effort called Lunar Locust, neither of which were detailed in an unclassified version of the command’s unfunded priority list obtained by Defense News.

Each year after the White House unveils its budget submission, the military services and combatant commands send Congress a rundown of programs they want to fund but that weren’t included in the request. This year’s list comes as Space Command officials express growing concern about how China and Russia’s space ambitions could impact U.S. military operations.

In a memo accompanying the document, SPACECOM Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting labeled China’s activities in particular as “increasingly assertive actions” that threaten critical space infrastructure.

“This in turn puts Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Guardians at risk, who rely on space capabilities every day,” he said. “Both states are already deploying counterspace capabilities that can target U.S. space systems.”

Whiting raised particular alarm about threats to GPS, a Space Force-run satellite constellation that provides navigation and timing capabilities to civilian and military users. He also highlighted Russia’s growing focus on cyber and nuclear capabilities, a concern that follows reports that Russia may be building a nuclear-armed spacecraft.

Beyond the classified space efforts, the command’s list also includes $393 million for commercial and military operations facilities and space domain awareness sensors and radars.

Space Command said it needs another $26 million for its Joint Commercial Operations Cell, which pulls commercial tracking data and uses it to augment military inputs. The cell has agreements with 14 international allies, and additional funding would improve access to the data it provides. It would also help support more robust space observation capabilities.

“Without funding, expansion capabilities will not be integrated, putting U.S. allies and partner nation protect and defend operations at risk,” the command said.

The list also includes $161 million for an effort called Project Lighthouse, which integrates space domain awareness radars and sensors to help coordinate Space Command’s understanding of what’s happening in orbit. The money would fund software upgrades, improved data flow and completion of a Multi-Mission Advanced Radar Capability.

To support further space observation capabilities, the command requests $179 million for sensor modernization, including the Army’s Long-Range Tracking and Instrumentation Radar located at the Reagan Test Site in the Marshall Islands.

“Radar capabilities and infrastructure at the Reagan Test Site are the only multi-phenomenology, deep-space surveillance systems in the Pacific,” Space Command said. “Loss of transmitters, power supply or . . . all-weather deep space coverage will take years to recover from.”

[James1978]

States Don't Need 'Space Force Militia': Air Force Secretary Defends Move to Bypass Governors
Military.com | By Thomas Novelly
Published April 10, 2024

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado -- Department of the Air Force leaders are fiercely defending a legislative proposal to bypass state governors in order to move certain Air National Guard units into the active-duty Space Force,

In response to a Military.com question during a press conference at the Space Symposium in Colorado on Wednesday, both Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force's chief of space operations, said the impact to states would be minimal.

"The impact is really, I think, negligible. Governors may have a different view, but I don't see a reason why a state needs a Space Force militia," Kendall said. "The reason these units exist in the states is kind of an artifact of history, somewhat. I'd really like to get this resolved."

Last week, Military.com reported that Air Force officials had submitted a draft legislative proposal to Congress titled "Transfer to the Space Force of covered space functions of the Air National Guard of the United States" that would change the status of such operations "from a unit of the Air National Guard of the United States to a unit of the United States Space Force; deactivate the unit; or assign the unit a new federal mission."

Air Force officials are seeking to waive Section 104 of Title 32 and Section 18238 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which state, respectively, that "no change in the branch, organization or allotment of a unit located entirely within a state may be made without the approval of its governor" and that National Guard units may "not be relocated or withdrawn under this chapter without the consent of the governor of the state."

Since the Space Force was formed in 2019 as part of the Department of the Air Force, a major point of contention has been what to do with the roughly 1,000 part-time Air National Guardsmen across 14 units operating space-related missions in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York and Ohio.

The National Guard Association of the United States, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying organization, quickly spoke out against the Air Force proposal. Internal surveys of those unit members show "that most do not want to transfer to the Space Force," the association said in a statement last week.

Governors from some of the states potentially affected by the Air Force proposal also objected strongly to the plan.

"Governors on both sides of the aisle call for the immediate discontinuation of legislative proposals that endanger or deny the full and legitimate authority of governors to act in the capacity of commander in chief to their respective National Guard across states and territories," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said in a National Governors Association press release Tuesday.

Kendall dismissed concerns that the proposal would set a precedent undermining the governors' authority, saying the Air National Guard assets are necessary for the active-duty Space Force.

"We've had much, much more political attention over this than it deserves," Kendall said. "We need a way to integrate these space capabilities, which are very valuable to us, into the Space Force. This is a unique situation. I have no indication that either the Air Force or Army Guard, anybody, is contemplating any other changes."

Some governors and National Guard Association officials have called for the creation of a Space National Guard. But the Department of the Air Force and the White House have pushed back against the effort and instead want to put Air National Guardsmen with space-related jobs in the Space Force's new part-time active-duty service model, which was approved in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.

Under that new legislation, the Space Force is already working on the transfer of full-time Air Force reservists with space-related units into the service, but Saltzman warned in a memo late last month of the "sheer amount of work" required to get the part-time service model set up.

Despite the delays for the reservists, Saltzman defended the Department of the Air Force proposal, saying it also makes sense to eventually weave Air National Guard space units into the Space Force -- potentially under the part-time model proposed by the Space Force Personnel Management Act.

"In my estimation, the military effectiveness of those missions and taking care of those people is best performed as a single component using the same processes, procedures [and] management structure to take care of the people and to manage the missions," Saltzman said in response to Military.com's question.

The 2024 NDAA called for a report to "assess the feasibility and advisability of moving all units, personnel billets, equipment and resources performing core space functions under the operational control of the Space Force" from the Air National Guard.

At the symposium Wednesday, Kendall told Military.com that the report will be out "very shortly" but added, "It's not going to change our views."

[James1978]

HASC chair backs Air Force plan on space Guard units (Exclusive)
House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers tells Breaking Defense that Guard advocates should not “waste their time” lobbying against the move.
By Michael Marrow and Valerie Insinna
April 17, 2024

WASHINGTON — House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers is backing an Air Force proposal to transfer Guard units tasked with space missions into the Space Force, warning that Guard advocates should not “waste their time” lobbying against the move, he told Breaking Defense today.

“I’m fully supportive” of the proposal, said Rogers, R-Ala., following a HASC hearing on the Air Force and Space Force fiscal year 2025 budget requests.

“I think that what the Air Force is suggesting is going to be successful,” Rogers said. “We are used to the National Guard Association being a very political organization that deploys these kind of political activities. This is not one in which they should waste their time and this is not one in which they’re going to be successful.”

The Air Force’s proposal — which would see the Space Force absorb less than 600 Guard personnel performing space missions from six states and Washington, DC — has ignited controversy among the Guard’s supporters, who largely advocate instead for the creation of a separate Space National Guard. The proposal would require that Congress override existing law mandating a governor’s approval for changes to a Guard unit.

The Guard has hit back hard against the proposal, with the head of the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) calling it an “existential threat” to the organization in an op-ed for Breaking Defense.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall referred to that op-ed during today’s hearing, saying with audible exasperation, “The reaction from the Guard, quite frankly, has been over the top on this. I mean, I read an article this morning by the head of the Guard foundation that this was an ‘existential threat’ to the Guard. We’re talking 500-plus people here.

“We’re not talking an existential threat. No one is suggesting dismantling the Guard. This is a sui generis, a de minimis exception to our norm and it’s necessary to make the Space Force effective as it needs to be. I’m sorry this has become such a politicized issue. It should be very straightforward,” he said.

After the hearing, Rogers told Breaking Defense he fully agreed with Kendall’s reasoning.

“The truth is only six states are involved, and in each state it’s such a narrow sliver of the existing Guard. Frank Kendall is right, it’s a de minimis move. So it is greatly exaggerated when the National Guard Association refers to this as an existential threat. It’s 578 people. It is not a threat,” Rogers said.

Not all members of Rogers’s committee appear to agree. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican and Guard veteran, accused the proposal of making an “end-run” around gubernatorial prerogatives and “setting precedent for federal overreach on Guard issues for years to come” during the HASC hearing. Kendall has emphasized the proposal would be a one-off.

NGAUS President Francis McGinn, a retired Army National Guard two-star, told Breaking Defense that while Rogers “is entitled to his opinion,” the position of NGAUS remains unchanged.

“We do what we think is right for our membership and our constituency,” he said. “We think this sets a dangerous precedent.”

Questioning Space Force chief Gen. Chance Saltzman, Rogers asked during the hearing whether impacted Guard units under the proposal would have the option to transfer to the Space Force, be able to report to the same duty station, stay in their current state of residence and possibly access a “better system of benefits under the Space Force’s new hybrid personnel structure.”

“It is true,” Saltzman replied. “I think the best way to take care of these missions and the people that are currently doing them in the Air National Guard is to integrate them into the Space Force.”

[jemhouston]

I wonder how many of those National Guard folks don't want to be full time Space Force.

[James1978]

I wonder how many of those National Guard folks don't want to be full time Space Force.

That's something that isn't clear from the articles I've read on this. Are these folks full times guard, or part time guard? If they are part-timers, then yea, I can see an issue. But I think that's more of an argument for a formal Space Force Reserve, not a Space National Guard.

This may shed some light on the question . . .

Congress approves Space Force part-timers, but still no Space Guard
By Jonathan Lehrfeld and Rachel S. Cohen
16 January 2024

The Space Force will become the nation’s first military service that allows troops to switch between full-time and part-time work without formally transferring to a Reserve component or the National Guard.

The youngest branch of the armed forces has lacked its own part-time workforce since its creation in 2019. That changed as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in December.

The move is part of the Space Force’s broader vision to adapt military service to the needs of modern Americans. Eliminating the traditional component structure, which separates troops serving on active duty from those in Reserve or Guard units, aims to offer more flexibility for those looking to serve their country and ultimately keep them in uniform longer.

“When fully implemented, this new construct will allow us to manage our military force more effectively, improve quality of life and retention, and capitalize on skill sets developed outside the military to continue delivering unmatched space capabilities,” Maj. Tanya Downsworth, a Space Force spokesperson, told Military Times via email.

Now the service begins the difficult work of figuring out how to make the legislation a reality for the 9,000 or so uniformed guardians under its purview, as well as Air Force Reservists in space-related jobs. A phased implementation is expected to last five years.

“We’re looking at the language to make sure we exactly understand how to move forward,” Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna told Military Times in a Jan. 11 interview. “What does it mean to be part-time? What benefits do you have? … How do we promote? How do we select? What does that look like? We’re working through that right now.”

The Space Force works to protect American interests in space and supports military operations around the globe through a vast network of satellites and radars on Earth and in orbit.

As the new service shapes a workforce separate from and much smaller than the other armed forces, it has seized on an opportunity to avoid pitfalls that have accompanied transitions in and out of the Reserve components.

Last year, the federally funded think tank Rand Corp. found retention issues linked to persistent transition challenges for guardians moving to and from part-time roles in the other services — like the Air National Guard or the Air Force Reserve — from reappointment and pay delays to complications with benefits and medical coverage.

Now, as the Space Force prepares to continue expanding its workforce — the only branch Congress has allowed to grow in fiscal year 2024 — guardians will see new options to create their ideal career with potentially fewer headaches.

According to the 2024 NDAA, those on active duty in the Space Force will become classified as serving on “sustained duty,” a regular, full-time status; or as “not on sustained duty,” a part-time position.

Part-timers must still participate in at least 48 scheduled drills or training periods each year, and serve on active duty for at least 14 days (excluding travel time) per year; or serve on active duty for training for up to 30 days each year, according to the law.

The legislation also establishes the designation of “inactive status” for guardians. That would be similar to the Individual Ready Reserve that already exists in other services as an additional pool of people who can be called up in an emergency, Downsworth said.

It’s unclear how many guardians will be expected to serve on full-time, part-time or inactive status at any given time, she added. Air Force Reservists who work in space roles can also opt to transfer into the space service.

Officials hope the new model will attract more recruits in an already highly competitive field. The Space Force and Marine Corps — the nation’s two smallest military services — were the Pentagon’s only branches to meet their recruiting targets in fiscal year 2023. The Space Force plans to grow to 9,400 uniformed guardians by the end of September 2024.

Bentivegna believes more people could opt to join and stay in a service that doesn’t offer such a stark choice between staying and leaving when “life happens.”

“A lot of our part-timers will probably be in their normal job ... in the space industry somewhere, or the cyber industry or the intelligence agencies,” he said. “How do we keep leveraging that and bring them back and forth in a way that makes sense?”

The new setup could lead to changes at the operational units, too. For instance, Bentivegna said, the policies could blur the lines between units such as the active duty 2nd Space Operations Squadron and the Reserve 19th Space Operations Squadron, which run GPS satellites from Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado.

“In many ways, I think that Space Force is rightly going to serve as a microcosm, [a] testbed for the larger military in figuring out how to create a more modern personnel system and a true continuum of service,” Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Military Times.

He added that the “bold new direction” will allow Space Force to continue being selective about who it brings in for its often technical, highly specialized jobs. Still, he acknowledged questions remain about how to implement the new model.

Bill Woolf, who heads the nonprofit Space Force Association, argued that a part-time workforce will make it simpler to leverage the expertise of troops who the service may not need continuous access to, but who are still worth keeping on the bench.

“Career flexibility seems to be important for young people these days,” he said in a statement to Military Times. “No other service will be able to offer this kind of flexibility.”

Is a Space National Guard still on the table?
The move to a hybrid workforce of guardians comes amid a long-running fight to create a separate Space National Guard, which proponents have pushed to become the Space Force’s primary combat reserve.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Mike Bruno, the chair of the space task force at the National Guard Association of the United States, told Military Times that the choice to pursue the non-component structure is untested and “ignores the proven history of the National Guard.” He noted his views do not necessarily reflect the Air Force, the Department of Defense or the Colorado National Guard, where he works as the director of the Joint Staff.

Nearly 1,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen perform space-related operations across more than a dozen units in seven states and one U.S. territory, according to the association. They manage missile warning systems, maintain systems that counter electromagnetic attacks and work with military communications satellites, among other missions.

Bruno also suggested that by creating a Space National Guard, the service could further leverage the Guard’s existing state partnership program to advance the space capabilities of foreign militaries.

Lawmakers from Colorado, a longstanding seat of military space operations, heavily favor the creation of a Space National Guard and supported language to do so that was scrapped from the new defense policy law.

Their advocacy comes amid an ongoing battle to retain the headquarters of the now fully operational U.S. Space Command, the joint combatant command in charge of daily space operations, in Colorado rather than move it to Alabama.

Harrison and others who oppose a distinct National Guard component for the Space Force argue it makes “zero sense.” Governors do not need control over the military space capabilities that currently belong to state Guards, he said, because they are “inherently global and … have to be managed at a national level.”

Critics also argue that the bureaucratic and financial costs of standing up an independent Space National Guard are simply not worth it.

“Adding a Space National Guard is like the antithesis of being lean,” Harrison said, arguing it would contradict the streamlined organization for which leaders have advocated.

A 2020 Congressional Budget Office analysis considered a smaller and larger version of a Space National Guard, estimating those options would cost about $100 million to $500 million each year. The White House Office of Management and Budget has also estimated it could cost up to $500 million annually to launch a Space National Guard.

Others, however, have contested the actual cost would be far lower. The National Guard Bureau pegged the price at only $250,000, according to Bruno, which he said would go toward tasks like changing building signage.

The 2024 NDAA instructed the Pentagon to again dig into the feasibility and cost of moving space functions conducted by the Air National Guard to the Space Force. An interim briefing is due to Congress no later than Feb. 1, followed by a final, unclassified report by March 1.

Congress has also requested that the Department of the Air Force, which includes the Space Force, submit a report by Aug. 31 detailing how its forces will evolve through 2050.

[James1978]

Lawmakers File Bills to Create Space National Guard, Taking Trump Up on Promise
Military.com | By Thomas Novelly
Published March 12, 2025

The creation of a Space National Guard is getting a groundswell of support from Congress as bipartisan groups of lawmakers are submitting bills in both chambers to build it and eliminate an old proposal to move certain Air National Guard units from the states into the Space Force.

Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., filed a bill late Tuesday evening on the new Guard branch -- a plan also backed by President Donald Trump on the campaign trail -- and companion legislation was submitted by Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. Several units that would be affected by the bill belong to the Colorado National Guard.

"Establishing a Space National Guard will better prepare and streamline the work of our existing space personnel to maintain readiness to respond to and thwart attacks from our adversaries," Crapo said in a statement provided to Military.com.

The bills represent an effort that seemingly surpasses partisan politics and is likely an easy legislative win for supporters. While past efforts to create a Space National Guard have been stymied in Congress, the new administration has expressed support for the idea.

Trump, who established the Space Force in 2019, explicitly said in August that "as president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard."

Senate co-sponsors include Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho; Alex Padilla, D-Calif.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; and Rick Scott, R-Fla.

Additionally, the bill aims to replace Legislative Proposal 480, an Air Force effort first reported on by Military.com under former President Joe Biden's administration that aimed to transfer Air National Guard units with space missions into the active-duty Space Force -- bypassing state governors who oversee their Guard units.

The move was widely condemned by every governor in the country and a large, bipartisan number of lawmakers.

National Guard lobbyists have consistently rallied against the transfer of the Air National Guard units into the Space Force and believe a Space National Guard is the best way to have reserve forces. The Biden administration was against the creation of a space-focused Guard, labeling it too costly.

Retired Maj. Gen. Francis McGinn, president of the National Guard Association of the United States, which lobbies for issues connected to the reserve component, praised the Crapo and Hickenlooper bill.

"For many years, NGAUS has advocated the best way to keep them in the fight is to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force, similar to how the Army and Air National Guard currently operate with their parent services," McGinn said. "The Space National Guard Establishment Act is a common-sense solution that ensures the Space Force won't have to take a knee on readiness."

The Space National Guard would consist of units from Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York and Ohio, according to a copy of the bill text provided to Military.com. The text also states that a one-star general will be the director of the reserve component and will report to the director of the Air National Guard.

Creation of the Space National Guard would "make use of facilities, infrastructure and installations constructed before the date of the enactment of this act," the bill states.
[/
Advocates in the past said the main costs associated with a new component would consist of making new name tapes and signs, but that the units would continue their same missions from their existing locations.

"A dedicated reserve component will make sure our National Guard space experts have a clear path to continue their service to community and country," Hickenlooper said in a statement provided to Military.com, describing it as a "win-win for service members."

[James1978]

Space Force lacks ‘warfighting ethos,’ experts say
By Courtney Albon
February 19, 2025

U.S. policies around weapons in space, its over-classification of space capabilities and a lacking “warfighting ethos” are undermining public perception of the Space Force and “subverting” its legitimacy as a separate military service, according to a new study from the Mitchell Institute.

The study, released Wednesday, is the byproduct of a two-day workshop the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence held in October. The event convened 55 space experts from across the military, industry and academia to consider how the Space Force’s current operational concepts might hold up amid a range of potential crises over the next 25 years — from a deployed Russian nuclear antisatellite weapon to an attempt by China to hijack a futuristic “luxury space hotel.”

The workshop highlighted gaps in how the general public, and even some in the Defense Department, perceive the role of the Space Force and a disconnect between rhetoric that labels space as a “warfighting domain” and the actual policies that govern the military’s operational approach.

“‘Space as a Warfighting Domain’ has become a standard refrain over the past five years in the U.S. military community, yet little has changed to move away from the ‘space as a purely strategic domain mindset’ — prevalent during the Cold War and prior to China’s rapid development of antisatellite systems,” the report states. “It is crucial to recognize this transition, for core decisions tied to strategy, operational concepts, tactics and technologies are tied to this reality.”

To better normalize the idea of space as a contested military domain, the report recommends that the Trump administration and Congress set new policies allowing weapons in space. It also calls for more funding and personnel for the Space Force and an update to the Defense Department’s space-related roles and missions.

The report proposes that the Space Force develop a warfighting concept and training programs that shape a more “assertive” warfighting culture among guardians and to better communicate with the public about the service’s role in preserving U.S. security.

Charles Galbreath, a senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute and one of the report’s authors, told reporters in a briefing Tuesday that one of the more difficult barriers to broadening understanding about what the Space Force does is that the importance of space and the technology required to leverage it is largely elusive to the public.

That challenge is exacerbated by the fact that unlike the other services, the Space Force doesn’t have guardians conducting military missions in space, according to Galbreath.

“Whether we have people in the domain is a huge question,” he said. “The lack of guardians in space right now is one of those things that [makes] people go, ‘Well, do I need to have you as a military service and do you need to be separate?’”

The report also highlights the need for more sensors, radars and other capabilities that can monitor and track activity in space. Along those lines, the report notes that the U.S. needs to be able to share that information with allies and the public to coordinate operations and “bolster national will” should a conflict arise.

It further advocates for a broader pool of trusted international partners beyond the traditional Five Eyes nations — which includes the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. — and calls for continued U.S. leadership in establishing norms for responsible space behavior.

“By proactively defining which actions in space are acceptable and which will lead to the escalation of tensions, the United States will be positioned to rally international support to counter hostilities,” the report states.

[James1978]

Awaiting Space Force certification, ULA says future missions could aim to baffle Chinese watcher sats
By Theresa Hitchens
March 12, 2025

WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance (ULA) CEO Tory Bruno is positioning the Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle for future national security missions, including sneaking satellites past Chinese watching eyes, even as the company continues to wait for a Space Force decision on whether the rocket can be certified to carry today’s payloads.

Bruno told reporters today that Vulcan already is optimized for “exotic orbits for the government” and could provide services like “directly injecting [a spacecraft] into geosynchronous orbit.”

At the same time, he added, ULA has “a set of investments that are around extending the life of the upper stage, which would allow us to fly different kinds of trajectories…

“There are other things we can do for them [the US government] that are useful in national security, I might even say confounding for Chinese threats in space, that are enabled by a longer lived upper stage.”

Such a fuel-heavy upper stage could be used in rapid, long-range maneuvering to outfox hostile satellites, Bruno explained.

“If I have longer duration, I can go to a different place. If I have longer duration, I can do unusual trajectories that would obfuscate where my destination is, which becomes a challenge for an adversary who wants to surveil or interfere with that spacecraft,” he said. “Then they have to either find it and or position a hostile asset next to it. When they have a plan to do that, it’s a big deal for an adversary because spacecraft can’t carry very much propellant and still have useful payload.”

But before any of that can happen, the Space Force needs to give Vulcan Centaur the thumbs up to carry currently manifested payloads under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program.

To do that, a launch provider needs to demonstrate two successful flights of its launch vehicle before receiving certification by the service to fly critical NSSL missions. While Vulcan first flight last January passed the certification tests, its second certification flight in October did not.

That flight suffered “an anomaly in one of the two solid rocket motors where we lost the nozzle,” he explained, although the Vulcan nonetheless managed to achieve “a perfect orbital insertion,” Bruno said.

“So, that was all good, but I do prefer that all the parts of my rocket leaders stay attached where they’re supposed to be,” Bruno added.

ULA’s investigation discovered that the problem was due to a manufacturing error, he said.

“We have isolated the root cause appropriate corrective actions, and those were qualified and confirmed in a full-scale static firing in Utah last month. So, we are back in continuing to fabricate hardware and at least initially, screening for what that root cause was, which was a manufacturing defect of one of the internal parts of the nozzle insulator,” Bruno elaborated.

A spokesperson for Northrop Grumman, which supplies the solid rocket motors for the Vulcan Center, declined to comment.

Bruno said that ULA submitted the findings of the investigation to the Space Force about a month ago for review, noting that “typically, it’s not a very long process.”

A spokesperson for Space Systems Command’s Assured Access to Space office told Breaking Defense today that a decision is still pending.

“We have been working with ULA very closely over the last several years to complete NSSL certification of their Vulcan system. The teams have made tremendous progress, and we are close to a decision,” the spokesperson said.

In November, ULA and the Space Force said that the two NSSL program launches manifested on Vulcan for launch last year, USSF-106 and USSF-87, were expected to lift off early this year after having been postponed due to the investigation of the second flight.

A senior Space Force official said in January that the Space Force was “targeting mid-February” for being able to give the all clear to Vulcan, and noted that the service is planning 18 total launches under the current NSSL Phase 2 program: 11 on Vulcan and seven for SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

While a recent report to Congress from the Air Force, first reported by Bloomberg, criticized ULA’s overall performance as “unsatisfactory” and suggested that the Space Force may shift some of its planned Vulcan launches to SpaceX, Bruno punched back that the report was out of date and not accurate even at the time of its writing in January.

“I saw it before it was leaked, and I don’t normally talk about improperly leaked reports, but I’m going to make an exception this time. When that was written it was inaccurate. As we sit here today, it is certainly overtaken by events,” he said.

[Poohbah]

Space Force lacks ‘warfighting ethos,’ experts say
By Courtney Albon
February 19, 2025

U.S. policies around weapons in space, its over-classification of space capabilities and a lacking “warfighting ethos” are undermining public perception of the Space Force and “subverting” its legitimacy as a separate military service, according to a new study from the Mitchell Institute.

The study, released Wednesday, is the byproduct of a two-day workshop the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence held in October. The event convened 55 space experts from across the military, industry and academia to consider how the Space Force’s current operational concepts might hold up amid a range of potential crises over the next 25 years — from a deployed Russian nuclear antisatellite weapon to an attempt by China to hijack a futuristic “luxury space hotel.”

The workshop highlighted gaps in how the general public, and even some in the Defense Department, perceive the role of the Space Force and a disconnect between rhetoric that labels space as a “warfighting domain” and the actual policies that govern the military’s operational approach.

“‘Space as a Warfighting Domain’ has become a standard refrain over the past five years in the U.S. military community, yet little has changed to move away from the ‘space as a purely strategic domain mindset’ — prevalent during the Cold War and prior to China’s rapid development of antisatellite systems,” the report states. “It is crucial to recognize this transition, for core decisions tied to strategy, operational concepts, tactics and technologies are tied to this reality.”

To better normalize the idea of space as a contested military domain, the report recommends that the Trump administration and Congress set new policies allowing weapons in space. It also calls for more funding and personnel for the Space Force and an update to the Defense Department’s space-related roles and missions.

The report proposes that the Space Force develop a warfighting concept and training programs that shape a more “assertive” warfighting culture among guardians and to better communicate with the public about the service’s role in preserving U.S. security.

Charles Galbreath, a senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute and one of the report’s authors, told reporters in a briefing Tuesday that one of the more difficult barriers to broadening understanding about what the Space Force does is that the importance of space and the technology required to leverage it is largely elusive to the public.

That challenge is exacerbated by the fact that unlike the other services, the Space Force doesn’t have guardians conducting military missions in space, according to Galbreath.

“Whether we have people in the domain is a huge question,” he said. “The lack of guardians in space right now is one of those things that [makes] people go, ‘Well, do I need to have you as a military service and do you need to be separate?’”

The report also highlights the need for more sensors, radars and other capabilities that can monitor and track activity in space. Along those lines, the report notes that the U.S. needs to be able to share that information with allies and the public to coordinate operations and “bolster national will” should a conflict arise.

It further advocates for a broader pool of trusted international partners beyond the traditional Five Eyes nations — which includes the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. — and calls for continued U.S. leadership in establishing norms for responsible space behavior.

“By proactively defining which actions in space are acceptable and which will lead to the escalation of tensions, the United States will be positioned to rally international support to counter hostilities,” the report states.

Crud pits at Space Force O Clubs.

Get spacecraft operators to resolve disputes with a friendly round of fisticuffs.

[James1978]

Good news! Someone other than SpaceX is certified for National Security Launches.

ULA’s Vulcan rocket certified for national security launches
By Theresa Hitchens
March 26, 2025

WASHINGTON — The Space Force today announced it has certified United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan-Centaur launch vehicle to carry critical national security payloads to space — after a five month investigation into a problem with its second required flight test last October.

With that thumbs up from Space Systems Command’s (SSC) Assured Access to Space program office in hand, ULA now is the second fully certified launch provider, along with SpaceX, cleared under the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program.

Blue Origin, the space launch company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, also hopes to join the NSSL program. The company in January successfully tested its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket for the first time.

“Vulcan certification adds launch capacity, resiliency, and flexibility needed by our nation’s most critical space-based systems,” Brig. Gen. Panzenhagen, the Assured Access to Space program executive officer, said in a Space Force press release.

ULA CEO Tory Bruno told reporters on March 12 that the loss of one of the engine nozzles during Vulcan’s second NSSL certification flight was caused by a manufacturing error.

In a statement today, Bruno said “Vulcan is uniquely designed to meet the challenging requirements demanded by an expanding spectrum of missions for U.S. national security space launches. Moreover, this next-generation rocket provides high performance and extreme accuracy while continuing to deliver to our customer’s most challenging and exotic orbits.”

There are two NSSL launches already in Vulcan’s queue under the current NSSL Phase 2 program: USSF-106 and USSF-87, both of which were supposed to go up last year but had to be postponed due to the investigation of the second flight.

A senior Space Force official said in January that the service is planning 18 total launches this year under NSSL Phase 2: 11 on Vulcan and seven for SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

Space Force Clears ULA’s New Rocket to Compete with SpaceX
March 26, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force certified United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket to carry its most important national security missions into space—clearing the way for a series of new launch missions this year and giving SpaceX a little competition.

Space Systems Command announced the decision March 26, clearing the rocket for the National Security Space Launch program, which represents space missions that can tolerate the lowest possible risk.

ULA endured a comprehensive certification process for Vulcan Centaur, SSC said in a release, covering “52 certification criteria, including more than 180 discrete tasks, 2 certification flight demonstrations, 60 payload interface requirement verifications, 18 subsystem design and test reviews, and 114 hardware and software audits.”

Vulcan Centaur replaces ULA’s Delta IV rocket, which had been certified for NSSL missions, but completed its final launch in April 2024. Since then, SpaceX’s Falcon rockets have been the only option for NSSL missions, making SpaceX a dominant force in the launch market.

“We definitely want to make sure that the industrial base is as broad as possible,” declared Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman at this month’s AFA Warfare Symposium. “That gives us more assurances that we will have ready access to the kinds of capabilities we need across all of the different orbital regimes and weight classes that we have to put capabilities in space.”

The Space Force had assigned more than a dozen missions to ULA which could not be flown until Vulcan was certified. Among them: small satellites for the Space Development Agency, new GPS satellites, classified payloads for the Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office, and experimental payloads for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. One launch was redirected to SpaceX during this time.

Space Systems Command said Vulcan’s first NSSL launch will be this summer, likely to include some of the 100 satellite launches the Space Force hopes to deploy in 2025.

In a statement, ULA president Tory Bruno thanked his government customers for their partnership. “Thank you to all our customer partners who have worked hand-in-hand with us throughout this comprehensive certification process,” he said. “We are grateful for the collaboration and excited to reach this critical milestone in Vulcan development.”

Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, program executive officer for assured access to space, said completing the certification locked in “a critical element of national security,” promising that “Vulcan certification adds launch capacity, resiliency, and flexibility needed by our nation’s most critical space-based systems.”

More competition could be coming soon. Blue Origin launched its New Glenn rocket for the first time last year and is gearing up for another launch in the next few months, in the hopes of also earning NSSL certification. Blue Origin has already been accepted into NSSL’s new “Lane 1” program, which is for commercial-like missions where risk tolerance is greater.

More new launch providers are also trying to get Space Force approval.

“It was only about 10 years ago when we had like one provider and just a few rocket systems,” Saltzman said earlier this month. “So if you take a long look at this, over the last 10 or 15 years, we’ve really expanded the industrial base in support of launch services. I think we’re on the right trajectory.”

[James1978]

Space Force picks Northrop for ‘Elixir’ satellite refueling demo
By Courtney Albon
1 April 2025

The Space Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to develop a satellite refueling capability and demonstrate it through a new mission called Elixir.

The award follows a Space Systems Command contract Northrop received last year to develop a tanker satellite called GAS-T, or the Geosynchronous Auxiliary Support Tanker, and incorporates technology and lessons learned from that effort, which the company recently completed.

“The Elixir program enables us to complete development, build and launch of our refueling payload, which was at the heart of our GAS-T tanker,” Lauren Smith, Northrop’s program manager for in-space refueling, said Monday in an interview with Defense News. “So, this is building on Northrop Grumman’s existing work and continuing to advance technologies for refueling.”

Smith would not disclose the value of the Elixir contract, the technical details of the tanker payload or the planned timing of the launch. She did, however, note that the Rapid On-Orbit Space Technology Evaluation Ring, or ROOSTER-5, will carry the payload. That spacecraft had been previously slated to fly in a 2027 mission.

The receiving spacecraft will be fitted with the company’s Passive Refueling Module, an interface for satellite refueling that the Space Force named last year as one of its preferred standard interfaces.

According to Smith, Elixir aims to tackle three fundamental technical challenges: rendezvous and proximity operations — positioning satellites close together so that one can attach to another; docking, or making contact, with another satellite; and transferring fuel from one spacecraft to another.

“Performing refueling in space does require a carefully orchestrated dance, and we’re really looking forward to proving that out on orbit,” she said. “The scale at which this mission is being performed will position the technology well for a streamlined transition to future operational use, should the customer decide to do so.”

In-space refueling is seen as a key near-term enabler for mobility in space — a high priority for the Space Force as China and Russia demonstrate the ability to perform complex maneuvers in space that could impede U.S. operations. Speaking at a defense conference in March, Gen. Michael Guetlein said commercial space firms had observed multiple instances of Chinese satellites performing what he called “satellite dogfighting” maneuvers in orbit.

“We have observed five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchronicity and in control,” Guetlein said March 18 during the McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Washington. “That’s what we call dogfighting in space. They are practicing tactics, techniques and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another.”

The Space Force has yet to lay out its vision for how it will incorporate satellite refueling and servicing capabilities into its architecture, but Elixir is one of several demonstrations it will stage over the next few years to help inform those plans.

That includes a 2026 mission involving a refueling spacecraft built by Astroscale U.S. and an Air Force Research Laboratory effort called Tetra-5, where two satellites will dock with refueling vehicles — one with Orbit Fab’s refueling station and a second with Astroscale’s. That mission is also slated for 2026.

[James1978]

If Blue Origin can get NSSL certification for New Glenn, having a third launch provider will add valuable redundancy.

Space Force issues $13.5 billion in contracts to 3 launch firms
By Courtney Albon
4 April 2025

The U.S. Space Force announced more than $13.5 billion in launch contracts Friday to SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin for missions that will fly between fiscal years 2027 and 2032.

The awards are part of the service’s National Security Space Launch program, or NSSL, which it uses to acquire nearly all military launch missions. Under the deal, SpaceX will receive $5.9 billion to fly 28 missions, ULA $5.3 billion to launch 19 and Blue Origin $2.3 billion to conduct seven.

While ULA and SpaceX are both NSSL incumbents, Blue Origin is a new entrant to the program. Its New Glenn rocket has not yet completed the Space Force’s certification process, but following its first flight in January, it became eligible to compete.

“Today’s award culminates nearly three years of government and industry partnership to increase launch resiliency and capacity,” Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, program executive officer for assured access to space, said in a statement. “The result is assured access to space for our national security missions, which increases the military’s readiness.”

The Space Force expects to launch 84 missions between fiscal 2027 and 2032 — nearly double the number of missions it launched the previous five years. To meet that demand and create a path for more companies to compete, the service adopted a new strategy for this next batch of missions.

Under that approach, the Space Force created two lanes in which companies can compete. Lane 1 is for commercial-like missions and is geared toward new providers, and Lane 2 — which was awarded Friday — is reserved for firms whose rockets meet more stringent security and performance requirements.

SpaceX, ULA and Blue Origin were also selected to compete for Lane 1 missions, along with Stoke Space and Rocket Lab, which are both developing new rockets slated to fly this year.

The service expects to release its first request for proposals for Lane 1 launches later this spring and companies will have a chance to compete for additional missions in fiscal 2026.

[James1978]

While I understand jockeying for a major headquarters when an organization is new, at this point, I think we have better things to spend money on.

Latest DoD IG report clears a hurdle for SPACECOM move to Alabama
By Theresa Hitchens
April 15, 2025

WASHINGTON — The finalization of a review by the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Biden administration’s 2023 decision to keep US Space Command’s permanent headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., clears a pro forma obstacle for a widely-expected decision by President Donald Trump to reverse course to move it to Huntsville, Ala.

The OIG’s report, released today, like those before it in essence shows that President Joe Biden’s July 2023 decision to keep SPACECOM HQ at Peterson SFB — which reversed the first Trump administration’s original 2021 determination to move it to Huntsville — was a judgement call.

Investigations in 2022 by both the OIG and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that internal Department of the Air Force studies between 2019 and 2021 deemed a move to Redstone Arsenal, Ala., was the best choice based on the metrics, especially costs. However, the investigations also found that top military brass protested that the negative effects of such a move on combat readiness were not properly taken into account by the studies.

Thus the basing choice fundamentally came down to a matter of priorities. Prioritize saving money and potentially risks a few years of lowered capability for SPACECOM to respond to any adversary threats on high, or prioritize maximum readiness today but spend more.

Today’s OIG report does present some new details about the internal DoD argument in the run up to Biden’s decision. For example, then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall recommended that SPACECOM go to Redstone largely because the move would save $426 million, the report noted.

However, then-SPACECOM Commander Gen. James Dickinson recommended that the permanent headquarters remain in Colorado because the original Air Force studies also found that Huntsville wouldn’t be ready for occupation for three to four years, the report said. Further, top SPACECOM officers fretted that more than half of the current civilian staff in Colorado would quit rather than change location.

The OIG also noted that it “could not determine” why Kendall did not make a formal “announcement decision for the transition of SPACECOM” from Colorado Springs to Redstone following the September 2022 completion of an environmental assessment of the planned HQ site in Huntsville.

Failure to make that announcement allowed SPACECOM to continue on its pathway to declare full operational capability in its current home, the report noted, which it did in December 2023.

The OIG report said the reason it couldn’t make that finding was because the Pentagon would not allow interviews with Kendall and former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin without the presence of DoD legal counsel — suggesting that the White House played the executive privilege card with regard to their conversations with Biden. The OIG disagreed with the need for counsel so chose not to do the interviews.

However, the Air Force and DoD said in their comments that while DoD legal counsel was called for to monitor interviews with Kendall and Austin because of the potential for breaching the confidentiality of those conversations, that they had seen no declaration of executive privilege from the White House. In other words, the call for counsel was a Pentagon decision, in effect, to err on the side of caution.

Following the release of today’s report, Alabama politicians began touting the new OIG report as justifying a Trump move to reverse Biden’s basing decision.

Further, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said in an April 8 podcast with Auburn University’s McCrary Institute that he expects Trump to make the announcement as soon as Troy Meink is confirmed as the new Air Force Secretary. While Rogers said he thought that would happen this month, Congress is on recess until April 28.

[Belushi TD]

I particularly liked the acronyms in the satellite refueling article. I actually started to laugh thinking "this HAS to be a joke" then I saw the date of the article! Nicely done!

Belushi TD

[James1978]

I particularly liked the acronyms in the satellite refueling article. I actually started to laugh thinking "this HAS to be a joke" then I saw the date of the article! Nicely done!

Belushi TD

Yea, I really wondered about that one myself given the date. But . . . it's real.

Further Reading
Northrop Grumman’s orbital refueling port selected for U.S. military satellites (29 January 2024)
SSC taps Northrop Grumman’s refueling systems as ‘preferred standard’ (29 January 2025)
When It Comes to Refueling Satellites, Space Force Faces Hard Choices (5 February 2024)

There is more out there if you do a search for "Geosynchronous Auxiliary Support Tanker".