Air & Space Forces Mag
• Courtney Albon
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink disclosed that the U.S. Space Force has deployed space-control weapons in orbit, marking the Pentagon’s first public acknowledgment of such systems. He also cited new milestones for military satellite programs supporting missile defense and long-range targeting.
Space Defense & Militarization
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Air Force Secretary Troy Meink disclosed that the U.S. Space Force has deployed space-control weapons in orbit, marking the Pentagon’s first public acknowledgment of such systems. He also cited new milestones for military satellite programs supporting missile defense and long-range targeting.
Satellogic has agreed with Innovative Defense Technologies to launch six additional Earth-observation satellites for the U.S. Office of Naval Research’s Slingshot III program. The agreement expands the satellite contribution to a U.S. defense-linked program focused on space-based Earth observation.
Satellite imagery is giving America’s adversaries persistent visibility into U.S. military bases, underscoring the need to adapt defense planning and operational security to an environment in which movements and infrastructure can be observed from orbit.
The Department of the Air Force has awarded nuclear microreactor startup Antares a $161 million contract to develop and demonstrate a nuclear reactor for spacecraft. The award advances U.S. efforts to mature space-based nuclear power for future missions.
The Pentagon is seeking an artificial intelligence system that can rapidly fuse space, missile and intelligence data into operational threat assessments. The effort would place commercial AI closer to the military decision-making loop, with speed and reliability central to converting large volumes of data into actionable assessments.
High activity
Announcements in Paris span HEO’s close-range inspection of a Chinese Long March 2C, BlackSky’s first Gen-3 imagery within 20 hours of launch, Space42 and Viasat’s Equatys direct-to-device platform, an ESA-ispace lunar polar rover mission, and expanded optical ground-station access.
President Donald Trump dismissed a report that Chinese entities provided Iran with satellite imagery of a U.S. military base in Jordan before and after an Iranian strike that killed three American troops in July. Trump said China spies on the United States, while the United States does the same.
High activity
Ten U.S. allies committed $302 million to complete funding for the Space Force’s next Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, while commercial operators advanced financing, manufacturing and procurement plans. Elveo Mobile selected Apex Space to produce 320 direct-to-device satellites, Eutelsat ordered 229 additional OneWeb satellites, and Sophia Space secured $300 million.
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