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  August 30, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  SPACECOM is a go: Newest combatant command signed into existence

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has a new combatant command. With a twirl of the pen, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper signed into creation U.S. Space Command, the 11th war-fighting command for the Defense Department. “This is a landmark day, one that recognizes the centrality of space to America's national security and defense," President Donald Trump said during the event, held in the Rose Garden of the White House. “It's all about space,” Trump said, adding that for anyone looking to challenge the U.S. in orbit, “it's going to be a whole different ballgame.” Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond is the new head of SPACECOM; Army Lt. Gen. James Dickinson has been nominated to become the deputy commander. Upon Trump's signature, 287 individuals, pulled largely from U.S. Strategic Command, became the first members of the new command. Earlier in the day, Raymond and Stephen Kitay, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, told reporters the creation of SPACECOM marked a new era in how the Defense Department approaches space. “We are at a strategic inflection point. There is nothing that we do [as a joint force] that isn't enabled by space. Zero,” Raymond said. “Our goal is to actually deter a conflict from extending into space. The best way I know how to do that is to be prepared to fight and win” should deterrence fail. SPACECOM's mission falls into four broad categories: To deter potential adversaries in space. To defend American assets in orbit. To deliver war-fighting capabilities (such as GPS) to other combatant commands. To develop joint war fighters to be able to operate in the space domain. The command will include a traditional headquarters staff, service components from all four armed services and two operational components: Combined Forces Space Component Command — focused on integrating space capabilities around the globe and throughout joint coalition partners — and Joint Task Force for Space Defense — focused on protecting and defending the war-fighting domain. “Space will not be an Achilles' heel. We will protect and defend and provide it for our way of life and our way of war,” Kitay added. Technically, this is a relaunch of SPACECOM, which existed in another form from 1985 through 2002. However, Raymond said, the two organizations are very different, with a “sharper” focus on the dangers from other nations in space a key part of the new incarnation. Those threats include kinetic and non-kinetic activities from competitors such as China and Russia — and any future competitors who might gain space capabilities in the future. As if to underscore the changing space environment, news broke Thursday that Iran's most recent attempt at a space launch appears to have failed on the ground. The effort was the third failed launch attempt this year, but the effort shows Iran is willing to invest significant national capital into putting assets into orbit. SPACECOM will continue to grow, including a final selection on the location of its headquarters. But questions remain about integration plans with an eventual Space Force, should Congress back its creation as a new military branch. The budget for SPACECOM in fiscal 2020 was $83.8 million, of which $75.6 million was shifted from previous organizations. Raymond warned that a continuing resolution this year would have a “significant impact” on the standing up of the new command. “We need to have stable budgets as we build this command. Continuing resolutions are never good, and it would be bad in this case as well,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/space/2019/08/29/spacecom-is-a-go-newest-combatant-command-signed-into-existence/

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  March 18, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  BAE nabs next-gen seeker design work for US Army’s missile defense system

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin, which builds the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon system for the U.S. Army, has awarded BAE Systems a contract to design and manufacture a next-generation seeker for the system's interceptors, according to a BAE announcement posted March 17. “The sensor design work will improve the missile defense system's ability to neutralize more threats and improve its manufacturability,” the statement read. The company did not disclose the contract amount or timelines to develop a design. The THAAD weapon system is part of the Army's layered approach to missile defense, now with its ability to defeat ballistic missile threats in the terminal phase of flight, but the Missile Defense Agency also wants to make it part of its future homeland defense architecture. BAE already provides the seeker for the THAAD system, which uses infrared imagery to guide the interceptors to threat targets, and the company has delivered more than 500 THAAD seekers to date, according to the statement. While the seekers are built in Nashua, New Hampshire, and Endicott, New York, the company plans to conduct design work for the next-generation seeker in Huntsville, Alabama, home of Redstone Arsenal and the Army's missiles and space programs. BAE Systems is building a state-of-the-art facility that will house a “cutting-edge” design program in Huntsville, the company noted. While the Army plans to continue using THAAD far into the future, the MDA is, in fiscal 2021, planning to allocated $273.6 million for THAAD development efforts, including the THAAD homeland defense tier. Specifically, the agency is asking for $139 million in FY21 to start the development and demonstration of a new interceptor prototype for THAAD, which could support a tiered and layered approach to homeland defense. BAE Systems did not say whether the next-generation interceptor design work includes efforts related to MDA's desire to produce a new interceptor prototype. The agency is “challenging ourselves” to figure out how to develop a THAAD interceptor that would work against an intercontinental ballistic missile, Vice Adm. Jon Hill, the MDA's director, said when the FY21 defense budget request was released in February. To do that, the MDA is seeking to draw lessons from building THAAD batteries for Saudi Arabia, he said. The agency is also looking at the existing engineering trade space. “We may consider an upgraded propulsion stack to give [THAAD] extended range, don't know yet,” he said. “It could be that we don't want to update the propulsion. Maybe there is something in the seeker that would buy us more in the trade space now.” The THAAD interceptor program is a new start in the FY21 budget request, Hill noted. “We are working our way through what that program would look like.” https://www.defensenews.com/smr/army-modernization/2020/03/17/bae-nabs-next-gen-seeker-design-work-for-us-army-missile-defense-system/

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  December 24, 2023 | International, Aerospace

  Boeing's first Dreamliner delivery to China since 2019 arrives