The UK Joint Task Force-Space Defense Commercial Operations Cell (JCO) in effect will extend the time the SPACECOM can keep tabs on satellites, especially those owned by adversaries, and dangerous space debris.
The concept of solar power satellites, first posited in 1968, seems to be back in fashion — not just in the US with initiatives at DoD and NASA, but around the globe, including in Beijing.
Blending superior optics, advanced stabilization and AI-powered autonomy in a compact and rugged system, ASELFLIR 600 delivers unmatched intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
"Russia is very stretched ... as they're doing what they're doing in Ukraine so I don't think they have a lot of bandwidth to launch new adventures in Africa," said AFRICOM commander Stephen Townsend.
"Magdrive's future is American, 100%," said Mark Stokes, CEO of the Oxford, England-based startup.
The two shoebox-sized CubeSats will each carry five miniature sensors, two provided by the Naval Research Lab and three by the UK Defence Science and Technology Lab.
LauncherOne also will carry two experimental Cubesats to test concepts related to the UK MoD's $1.2B effort to develop its own ISR capabilities.
Ahead of the Wednesday launch, mystery surrounds what the mission of NROL-87 is. NRO never talks about the purpose of specific satellites, period, but the payload will be launched to an orbit consistent with that of an imaging satellite.
The new UK space strategy "seems to be in Boris’ own words “spacetastic”: a positive big picture, but very thin on detail. The U.K. does not have the kind of money needed to fulfill all its aspirations," said Alex Walmsley, associate fellow at RUSI.
Too often political and global power ambitions outstrip funding in the British military, analyst Justin Bronk writes.
“You know, fundamentally, we paid for a piece of equipment, we expect it to be delivered, and just like any other consumer we have those rights," UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace said. "And if it's not up to scratch, we'll take action.”
Michigan’s defense ecosystem and expertise makes it a special asset for production.
"I don't see another obvious explanation other than it was a weapons test," said Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation.
WASHINGTON: Despite a turbulent Trump administration and a plummeting pound, the Anglo-American defense relationship remains strong, said the senior civil servant in the Ministry of Defence. “Under any circumstances, we’re going to continue to work very, very closely with the States,” Stephen Lovegrove, Permanent Secretary of the UK Ministry of Defence, told reporters this morning. […]
LONDON: Sen. John McCain would be howling if 49 percent of Pentagon contracts were not competed — especially if that had been true for more than nine years. How would McCain and his colleagues react if a company awarded a sole source deal charged the government $34,000 for a charitable donation or for “staff welfare?” One can only […]
WASHINGTON: With Russian subs and bombers nosing around the British Isles while the Islamic State massacres Parisians just two hours by train from London, the British Defense Ministry is besieged from both sides. The new Strategic Defense Review aims not only to rebuild the UK military after 2010’s cuts but to make it capable of confronting […]