“We think clearly it’s time for the Air Force and other governmental entities to engage and direct the right solution. Northrop has chosen not to do that,” Frank McCall, Boeing’s director of strategic deterrence systems, said.

The official decision about the headquarters of SPACECOM isn’t likely until mid- or late October.

The threat of long-range missile launchers in the Russian enclave is driving the Air Force to develop new tactics for multi-domain attack and dispersed defense.

The U.S. has 156 bombers today. But the Air Force is committed to boasting 386 squadrons, up 75 from its total today. “Certainly,” Gen. Timothy Ray said, “that means good growth for the bombers.”

“We’ve been socializing the idea both over at the White House and inside the Department,” Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper said about his push for a new initiative to explore “self-flying cars.”

Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson hopes that his LauncherOne airborne launch system’s capability to rapidly launch smallsats “will be a deterrent to an enemy state, that is to not attack satellites in the first place.”

The absence of competition would remove cost pressure for both major contractors, which may be attractive for them but is unlikely to bode well for taxpayers.