Next Gen Jammer Deliveries & OPIR: New Raytheon SAS Boss

Next Gen Jammer Deliveries & OPIR: New Raytheon SAS Boss
Next Gen Jammer Deliveries & OPIR: New Raytheon SAS Boss

Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems division is planning to hire more than 5,000 people. “Over 2,000 last year, and over 2,000 in the next 18 months, and that’s likely to continue for the next four to five years,” Roy Azevedo says in our interview.

HASC Markup Punts Space Force Decision, Chops Next-Gen OPIR

HASC Markup Punts Space Force Decision, Chops Next-Gen OPIR
HASC Markup Punts Space Force Decision, Chops Next-Gen OPIR

“I don’t trust the Air Force, on its own, given its existing structure to properly prioritize space,” Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith says.

Whither Nuclear Command, Control & Communications?

Whither Nuclear Command, Control & Communications?
Whither Nuclear Command, Control & Communications?

Most of the system that allows the president to launch nuclear weapons and to know what the enemy is doing with theirs is ancient. No one yet agrees what it must replaced with. And no one knows how much it will cost, although late last month the Congressional Budget Office issued an estimate of $77 billion.

Israel Plans Anti-Missile Nano Satellite Constellation

Israel Plans Anti-Missile Nano Satellite Constellation
Israel Plans Anti-Missile Nano Satellite Constellation

TEL AVIV: Israel is planning constellations of nano satellites, built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), that will allow almost continuous coverage of “areas of interest,” which are likely to include Iran, Syria, Lebanon and other countries, according to experts that are not connected in any way to the program. IAI refused to comment. The first nano satellite…

Adversaries Could Have Fiddled With US Satellites: DoD IG

Adversaries Could Have Fiddled With US Satellites: DoD IG
Adversaries Could Have Fiddled With US Satellites: DoD IG

WASHINGTON: If Chinese and Russian spies have been doing their jobs well, they might well have been able to compromise some of America’s most important satellites, including the missile launch detection birds known as SBIRS. A report out today from the Pentagon’s Inspector General says that Air Force Space Command’s failure to safeguard its supply chain…

Air Force Acquisition Test: Missile Warning Sats In 5 Years to Orbit?!

Air Force Acquisition Test: Missile Warning Sats In 5 Years to Orbit?!
Air Force Acquisition Test: Missile Warning Sats In 5 Years to Orbit?!

SPACE SYMPOSIUM: The Air Force, eager to get inside the decision cycle of China and Russia, is pressing ahead hard and fast to substantially speed space acquisition. In what is something of a test case for the service, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson last night committed to building the next generation of missile warning satellites,…

SMC Issues Final RFP For Five EELV Launches; SBIRS & 4 Classified Payloads

SMC Issues Final RFP For Five EELV Launches; SBIRS & 4 Classified Payloads
SMC Issues Final RFP For Five EELV Launches; SBIRS & 4 Classified Payloads

CLARIFIED: Adds SMC Comment On Launch Providers WASHINGTON: Last night the Air Force released the final Request For Proposals for five launch contracts for NRO and Air Force Space Command. The most intriguing payload is a code-word program, shared by the NRO and Air Force Space Command, known as SILENTBARKER, which has been described as…

EXCLUSIVE Air Force Weapons Schedule Woes Worsen; Costs Dip $229M

EXCLUSIVE Air Force Weapons Schedule Woes Worsen; Costs Dip $229M
EXCLUSIVE Air Force Weapons Schedule Woes Worsen; Costs Dip $229M

  PENTAGON: For the third year in a row, Air Force weapon programs have busted their schedules, taking longer to field, this time adding another 112 months to the 29 major weapons programs that the service monitors. It’s a pattern. In 2012, schedule performance “continues to remain problematic and shows no signs of improvement.” In 2013,…

Here’s Your HASC Markup Handbook With Amendment Predictions

Here’s Your HASC Markup Handbook With Amendment Predictions
Here’s Your HASC Markup Handbook With Amendment Predictions

CAPITOL HILL: Tracking the winners and losers of this year’s House authorization markup — the draft bill produced by the House Armed Services Committee — is one of Washington’s most exhausitng pastimes. The final bill often does not appear until 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or even later in the morning the day…

SBIRS GEO-2 Launch Today

BIG launch for NG LM ULA RT @LockheedMartin: #SBIRS #GEO-2 spacecraft is powered up & ready to fly! webcast here ow.ly/jdHJa colinclarkaol

SecAF Donley Says KC-46 Tanker Contract At Risk; Hill Must OK $1B

AFA Winter, ORLANDO: The latest looming casualty to the congressional budget mess is Boeing’s KC-46 tanker contract, which is in peril unless Congress approves roughly $1 billion in funding. If you want some idea of just how much uncertainty and confusion sequestration and the Continuing Resolution are generating, this latest mess is a good example.…

Air Force Names SBIRS Survivor, Space Shuttle Veteran, & Missileer To Key Space Jobs

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon named three Air Force officers to high-level assignments in military space today: the man who oversaw the first successful launch of the troubled Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), a veteran of the space shuttle program, and the outgoing overseer of the nation’s ballistic missile defense efforts. Brig. Gen. Roger Teague pinned on his…