Mastodawn

🚀💫 "In an astonishing feat of bureaucratic inertia, the US military's space #exercise launched with all the fanfare of a diet cola commercial. Meanwhile, Ars Technica continues its valiant quest to redefine 'journalism' as clicking 'Skip to content' before eagerly missing the point. 🙄🛰️"
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/06/a-us-military-exercise-in-space-got-underway-with-barely-anyone-noticing/ #militaryspace #journalism #critique #bureaucracy #satire #HackerNews #ngated

A US military exercise in space got underway with barely anyone noticing

The Space Force wants to cut the time to field new satellites from years to weeks, days, or hours.

Ars Technica

Econopass 5d ago

The Space Force wants to cut the time to field new satellites from years to weeks or days — a recent orbital exercise happened with almost no public fanfare. #spaceforce #militaryspace #satellites

https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/06/a-us-military-exercise-in-space-got-underway-with-barely-anyone-noticing/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into FLIPBOARD EXCHANGE FEED 🗞️ @flipboard-exchange-feed-Econopass

A US military exercise in space got underway with barely anyone noticing

The Space Force wants to cut the time to field new satellites from years to weeks, days, or hours.

Ars Technica

threelonmusketeers Jun 19

[Sandra Erwin] Space Force's rapid acquisition office director moves to Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center

https://sh.itjust.works/post/62054986

[Sandra Erwin] Space Force's rapid acquisition office director moves to Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center - sh.itjust.works

::: spoiler Article text Sandra Erwin 4–5 minutes WASHINGTON — Kelly Hammett, the former head of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, has been named executive director of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center. The appointment, announced June 18, comes as the Albuquerque-based Space Rapid Capabilities Office appears close to being shuttered as a standalone organization under the Space Force’s acquisition overhaul. Both the House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act would eliminate the office’s separate statutory status as part of a larger effort to reorganize the Space Force acquisition enterprise. Hammett led the Space RCO since 2022. He departs as the Space Force implements a new acquisition structure centered on Portfolio Acquisition Executives, senior officials responsible for broad mission areas rather than individual programs. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, also headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, oversees nuclear weapons-related acquisition and sustainment programs supporting Air Force Global Strike Command, which operates the nation’s land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear-capable bomber fleet. Hammett most recently appeared publicly as Space RCO director on May 27 during the State of the Space Industrial Base conference in Albuquerque. At the event, he acknowledged uncertainty surrounding the reorganization and what it could mean for the office. The Space Rapid Capabilities Office was established in 2018 amid concern that traditional Pentagon acquisition programs were struggling to keep pace with technological advances and emerging threats from China and Russia. The office was created as an independent organization and was allowed to operate outside the processes that govern larger acquisition programs. Together with the Space Development Agency, the Space RCO sought to accelerate procurements and shorten development timelines. Congress granted both organizations authorities intended to streamline contracting and speed delivery of new capabilities. Now, both organizations are being absorbed into a new acquisition framework. The Space Force has already begun reallocating responsibilities from the Space Development Agency. SDA Director Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo was assigned a dual-hatted role overseeing both the agency and the missile warning and tracking portfolio under the new structure. SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture is being divided among mission-focused acquisition portfolios. The future disposition of Space RCO programs remains less clear. While lawmakers in both chambers have endorsed eliminating the office’s separate statutory requirements, the Department of the Air Force has not publicly detailed where its programs will ultimately reside within the Portfolio Acquisition Executive framework. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink has said that the objective is not to eliminate the rapid-acquisition culture associated with the Space Development Agency and Space RCO but to extend those practices across the broader Space Force acquisition enterprise. :::

threelonmusketeers Jun 14

[Sandra Erwin] Missile production push runs into solid rocket motor bottleneck

https://sh.itjust.works/post/61794654

[Sandra Erwin] Missile production push runs into solid rocket motor bottleneck - sh.itjust.works

::: spoiler Article text Sandra Erwin 4–5 minutes WASHINGTON — U.S. production of solid rocket motors is rising, but not fast enough to meet the Pentagon’s missile-defense program demands, according to a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The report says solid rocket motors remain a bottleneck across the U.S. missile industrial base, even as the Pentagon prepares for a sharp increase in interceptor production. The Defense Department’s 2027 budget request includes more than $73 billion for missile programs across mandatory and discretionary funding, up from a prior peak of $29 billion in 2024, according to CSIS. The Pentagon expects deliveries of more than 2,100 air and missile defense interceptors in calendar year 2027, a roughly 70% increase from nearly 1,300 in 2021. But CSIS says that level remains well below the department’s stated production goals of roughly 5,000 interceptors a year across Army, Navy and Air Force programs. “Achieving these goals will require dealing with myriad challenges to increasing interceptor production,” the report says. It adds that the targets were set before Operation Epic Fury, which could increase pressure to replenish interceptors used in early 2026. The study, sponsored by Raytheon Technologies, Ursa Major and X-Bow Systems, argues that the air and missile defense interceptor industrial base isn’t configured for a long conflict with high missile-expenditure rates. A central concern is that solid rocket motors sit beneath nearly every major U.S. missile program. Problems in motor production, propellant ingredients, nozzles, inspection capacity or the specialized workforce can ripple across multiple weapon lines. The current constraints reflect years of consolidation. Between 2000 and 2015, the domestic solid rocket motor industry shrank from six suppliers to two: Aerojet Rocketdyne and Orbital ATK. Those companies are now part of L3Harris and Northrop Grumman, respectively. A new group of entrants has since moved into the market, including X-Bow, Ursa Major, Firehawk, Castelion, Anduril, Nammo, Avio USA and Prometheus Energetics. CSIS says those companies could eventually diversify the supply base, but many haven’t yet shown they can move from prototypes or limited production into large production lots. The report also points to a shift in the space industry. Commercial launch once helped support demand for solid rocket motors, particularly during the Space Shuttle era. But much of the commercial launch market has moved toward liquid propulsion, reducing the space sector’s role as a stabilizing source of demand for solid motor suppliers. CSIS argues that fixing the problem will require more than emergency funding. The report calls for stable demand signals, multiyear buying, direct investment in suppliers, requirements reform and broader acceptance of new suppliers. The Pentagon’s $1 billion investment in L3Harris solid rocket motor production is useful, the report says, but such direct-to-supplier intervention “cannot substitute for more proactive supply chain management by both the government and prime contractors.” CSIS says these investments tend to address visible bottlenecks rather than prevent future ones, and can’t replace sustained demand from the government customer. The report also says acquisition rules and cost-focused requirements can make it harder to introduce new materials, components and manufacturing processes. That can limit flexibility for established suppliers while slowing the entry of newer companies. :::

threelonmusketeers May 28

[Stephen Clark] US Space Force confirms SpaceX will build sensor-to-shooter targeting network

https://sh.itjust.works/post/60909643

threelonmusketeers May 27

[Debra Werner] The surge in military budgets can help Europe's entrepreneurial space sector — if spending speeds up

https://sh.itjust.works/post/60853471

[Debra Werner] The surge in military budgets can help Europe's entrepreneurial space sector — if spending speeds up - sh.itjust.works

::: spoiler Article text Debra Werner 3–4 minutes AMSTERDAM – The recent surge in European defense spending could bolster Europe’s entrepreneurial space sector, but only if bureaucratic roadblocks are cleared, panelists said at the SmallSat Europe conference. While the increase in available capital can provide funding for space-related products and services, government defense agencies tend to operate at a deliberative pace. Startups, meanwhile, often have a 12-month cash runway. “Traditionally, defense is not being known for speed, so I don’t think that they’re going to necessarily help as much as they could or should,” Chiara Manfletti, CEO of Portuguese space domain awareness startup Neuraspace, said in an interview. “You either feed innovation quickly, or innovation will perish.” In July, the European Commission proposed a 2028–2034 budget that would increase defense and space spending fivefold to roughly $150 billion over seven years. Michael Mallon, industrialization engineer at the European Space Agency, cited the potential for European defense spending to lead to the creation of space unicorns as it has spawned artificial intelligence and drone unicorns. However, the rapid production and deployment of drones, prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, occurred largely because traditional many of the rules followed for decades were “thrown out the window,” said Marco Villa, Canopy Aerospace and Defense CEO. Will European agencies adopt the rapid pace of decision making shown, for example, by the U.S. Space Force Space Development Agency? “Is there going to be that sort of culture of being able to try things, make mistakes, learn from them?” asked Noel Rimalovski, GH Partners managing partner. “Otherwise, money is going to sit around and maybe end up in a few companies’ pockets as opposed to developing a true diverse ecosystem at all levels of the supply chain.” European organizations have shown they can move rapidly to acquire and deploy drones at scale. “These companies have proven that we can do it if the urge is large enough,” Mallon said. Yes, but does Europe need a war to speed up its institutional processes for acquiring space systems, Manfletti asked. :::

threelonmusketeers May 19

[Mike Gruss] European imaging companies step in to fill warzone gap

https://sh.itjust.works/post/60414480

[Mike Gruss] European imaging companies step in to fill warzone gap - sh.itjust.works

::: spoiler Article text Mike Gruss 5–6 minutes MILAN – As U.S. satellite imagery companies have pulled back from sharing visuals of Iran and the broader area around the Gulf conflict, European Earth-observation firms are moving to fill the vacuum. The new business is coming from global energy traders, insurers, shipping firms and news organizations, all of whom depend on commercial satellite imagery to monitor one of the world’s most sensitive waterways: the Strait of Hormuz. “In the energy sector, Earth observation data has become a core part of the business in the last five years,” Antoine Rostand, president and co-founder of French environmental intelligence company Kayrros, told SpaceNews. “Since the war in Iran there has been even more interest in monitoring the situation, and it was very surprising for us to see that a flow of information previously coming from U.S. companies was suddenly cut off. It was a shock for everybody.” The change began after several American Earth-observation providers restricted access to imagery tied to Iran and surrounding conflict areas. On April 4, Planet Labs said it would indefinitely withhold imagery of Iran and the wider Middle East conflict region in response to a request from the Trump administration. The move followed similar restrictions by Vantor — formerly Maxar — and Satellogic, which added Iran to a list of areas subject to enhanced due diligence and limits on general commercial sales. The decisions triggered concern among international media organizations including the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Washington Post and The New York Times, all of which rely on commercial satellite imagery to document military activity, shipping disruptions and infrastructure damage. The restrictions came at a volatile moment. Since Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz on Feb. 28, governments and commodity markets have scrambled for reliable information about vessel traffic through the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. Roughly one-quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade and about one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas shipments pass through the strait each year. That meant oil traders wanted evidence of tanker movements. Shipping firms tracked vessels that had gone dark by disabling Automatic Identification System, or AIS, transponders. Airlines, insurers and commodity analysts looked for signs of disruption spreading through global supply chains. “In the energy sector, Earth-observation data has become a core part of the business in the last five years,” Rostand said. For European Earth-observation companies, industry leaders at the third ESA EO Commercialization Forum in Seville last week said the crisis created an opening. Rostand said firms across the continent rushed to determine whether Europe could replace at least some of the imagery and analytics previously supplied by American providers. He pointed to the European Union’s Copernicus Earth-observation program, along with commercial operators such as Airbus and Italy’s e-GEOS, as evidence that Europe possesses as part of the solution. “The good news is that in Europe we have Copernicus, which kept operating with no restrictions,” he said. While larger operators absorbed much of the redirected commercial demand, smaller European firms also found themselves fielding new requests from media organizations and analysts seeking independent visibility into the conflict. Finnish hyperspectral-imaging startup Kuva Space said it received more requests from U.S. news outlets searching for alternative sources of information about activity in the Strait of Hormuz. “We saw an increase in interest from the media, especially U.S. media, which were trying to figure out what is really happening there because nobody else was providing that information,” said Malathy Eskola, the company’s commercial director. One area of interest involved so-called “dark vessels” — ships traveling with AIS signals switched off to avoid detection. According to Kuva Space data, as many as 97% of vessels moving through the strait had disabled AIS transponders by March 29, one month after the blockade was formally imposed. News organizations also sought environmental analysis following strikes on oil infrastructure in the Gulf. The episode also highlighted Europe’s remaining limitations, including near-real-time capabilities available from larger American operators. Kuva, for example, expects next-generation satellites scheduled for launch later this year to improve processing speed and responsiveness. The Gulf event also comes as the European space community focuses on sovereignty. For years, European policymakers promoted the idea of reducing dependence on U.S. technologies. The sudden withdrawal of American imagery from a global conflict zone gave those concerns new urgency. “This story really shows that strategic autonomy is not just a word, it is a reality,” Rostand said. “The fact that we are independent and autonomous is essential.” :::

threelonmusketeers May 14

[Stephen Clark] A new US military wargame series began by simulating a nuclear weapon in orbit

https://sh.itjust.works/post/60140693

[Stephen Clark] A new US military wargame series began by simulating a nuclear weapon in orbit - sh.itjust.works

Lemmy

threelonmusketeers May 12

[Sandra Erwin] Special Operations Forces test mobile platform for direct satellite imagery access

https://sh.itjust.works/post/60025124

threelonmusketeers May 11

[Jack Congram] U.S. Sanctions Three Chinese Space Firms Over Alleged Iran Ties

https://sh.itjust.works/post/59967288

[Jack Congram] U.S. Sanctions Three Chinese Space Firms Over Alleged Iran Ties - sh.itjust.works

Lemmy