US, Closest Allies Sign Space Operations Agreement
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COLORADO SPRINGS: Australia, Britain, Canada and United States have signed a symbolically important Memorandum of Understanding committing them to “a partnership on combined space operations.” As is often the case with such international agreements — especially on such a highly sensitive area as space operations — figuring out what it means and how things may… Keep reading →
Gen. Shelton Supports New US Rocket Engine; Not Happy With Musk’s SpaceX
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COLORADO SPRING: Message to Elon Musk of SpaceX: the head of Air Force Space Command is not really happy with you, and he personally supports development of a new rocket engine that would mean the United States did not have to depend on the Russians’ RD-180 rocket engine. I asked Gen. Willie Shelton, who will… Keep reading →
ULA Fires Back At SpaceX At Space Symposium; Details Launch Costs
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COLORADO SPRINGS: After more than a month during which upstart rocket company SpaceX defined the debate about how much America should pay to launch big satellites into space, the Boeing-Lockheed United Launch Alliance crawled out from under its own rock and let fly. Feisty CEO Michael Gass sat opposite a phalanx of defense and space… Keep reading →
Adversaries Outpace US In Cyber War; Acquisition Still Too Slow
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COLORADO SPRINGS: The United States invented the Internet, but we may not rule it any more. “We are certainly behind right now. We are chasing our adversary, for sure,” one of the Air Force’s top cyber warriors, Col. Dean Hullings, told an audience of about 350 here at the National Space Symposium‘s one-day cyber event. Hullings,… Keep reading →
DNI Recommends Higher Resolution Imagery To White House
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TAMPA: The head of the Intelligence Community, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, told the world’s biggest intelligence conference that he has recommended to the White House that it approve significantly higher resolutions for the nation’s one remaining commercial spy satellite company. Currently, the United States limits the sale of commercial imagery to half a meter. The… Keep reading →
Pentagon Mulls Building All-American Rocket Engines, Dropping Russian RD-180s
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CAPITOL HILL: The Pentagon’s top space officials told Congress today they have launched a study to ascertain if the United States can build its own rocket engines so expensive and large spy and GPS satellites don’t have to be launched using Russian rocket engines, as they are now. Gen. William Shelton, head of Air Force Space… Keep reading →
Facebook To Buy Titan Aerospace, Maker of World’s Loneliest Drone
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Since we did the first story about the capabilities that Titan Aerospace offers — drones capable of flying for five years at 65,000 feet — we feel compelled to write about their reported purchase by Facebook. That’s right: not SpaceX or Northrop Grumman or Orbital. Facebook. The story is being covered in the financial and… Keep reading →
SecAF James OKs Combat Rescue Helicopter; T-X Trainer, Weather Sat, JSTARs Also Funded
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UPDATED: Adds Secretary James’ Comments On CRH PENTAGON: In a dramatic last-minute budget decision, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James today approved the long-delayed purchase of a Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH). The announcement was slipped into today’s Air Force budget briefing by Maj. Gen. James Martin, Air Force budget director. Martin said he was told… Keep reading →
Intelligence in 2014: Shrinking Budget Cuts, Snowden-Driven ‘Reforms’
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WASHINGTON: Positing the future of intelligence — even for one year — poses unique challenges. First, there’s so much those of on the outside don’t know. Then there’s the simple truth that our enemies and competitors drive so much of intelligence. Since we can’t know with certainty what will happen, it’s difficult to predict what the intelligence… Keep reading →
‘Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach,’ NRO Boasts As FIA Radar (?), 12 Nanosats Roar To Orbit
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The makers and operators of America’s spy satellites have lofted at least 13 assets on their way to orbit with the early morning launch today of NROL-39, atop the always impressive Atlas V rocket. http://youtu.be/yEF7Si2UkMs The main payload may be a highly advanced space radar, according to several educated guesses (which is about the… Keep reading →