The Pentagon’s Space Systems Command awarded Rocket Lab USA a $266 million contract for suborbital launch services, according to a Department of War contract announcement, covering 12 confirmed launches with an option for six more, all to be conducted from the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska, through the end of 2028. The contract […]

A Ukrainian drone maker that helped push the Russian Navy out of much of the Black Sea is bringing its combat-tested kamikaze boats to American shipyards. UFORCE, the London-registered parent of Ukraine’s MAGURA unmanned surface vessel program, signed a memorandum of understanding this week with RECONCRAFT, the Alaska-founded builder of Special Operations combatant craft, to […]

The U.S. Air Force jet meant to finally retire a training aircraft older than most of the pilots flying it is running years behind schedule, even as the service quietly started shopping for companies to upgrade the replacement before it has fully entered service. The Air Force posted a notice on July 8 seeking companies […]

Every precision strike, every navigation-guided munition, and every soldier’s handheld GPS unit ultimately depends on a network of ground stations most Americans will never see, and the Space Force just handed Lockheed Martin $105 million to keep that invisible backbone working for the next generation of GPS satellites. The contract, awarded July 7, covers modifications […]

The U.S. Space Force just handed two young rocket companies a shot at billions of dollars in Pentagon launch business, expanding the exclusive club of firms trusted to carry America’s most sensitive satellites into orbit. Impulse Space and Relativity Federal joined a $5.6 billion contract vehicle called National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 […]

Germany’s military is preparing to become one of the largest owners of a satellite fleet on the planet, second only to Elon Musk’s Starlink, with plans to put as many as 1,200 satellites into orbit by 2030 as part of a sweeping bet that future wars will be won or lost based on who controls […]

The biggest airplane in the entire U.S. Air Force fleet just got a $143 million tune-up, and it has nothing to do with engines, wings, or landing gear. The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth $142.9 million to keep the software running inside the C-5M Super Galaxy, the massive cargo hauler capable of […]

A fighter pilot crashes not on a runway, but somewhere out in the sagebrush and lava rock of Utah’s high desert, miles from pavement. Traditional airfield crash trucks, built to sprint down smooth concrete, sink or stall the moment the ground turns to sand, mud, or broken terrain, leaving a dangerous gap in how fast […]

Ten minutes after liftoff, SpaceX cut its own live feed on the Starfall demonstration flight. No orbit confirmation, no payload description, no further commentary. It was the kind of silence usually reserved for national security launches, and it was enough to catch the attention of analysts tracking a parallel development: Outpost Space’s CarryAll Block 3, […]