Military
Stories about military and national security missions in orbit.
Leonardo’s Missile-Defense Demo in Ukraine Aims To Be a Blueprint for Other Nations
Leonardo is positioning itself to become a mass distributor of space-enabled missile defense shields.
A Recap of Payload’s Space Stage
Two days. Nine panels. Two dozen speakers—and that’s just the space content.
Q&A With Laurent Jaffart, ESA’s Director of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity
Jaffart is leading the charge to build up ESA’s defensive posture. Payload chatted with him to hear his plans for the new role.
Planet Labs Extends Middle East Space Imagery Restrictions
Planet Labs just proved that dual use doesn’t necessarily mean equal priority.
Heritage Foundation Rates Space Force ‘Marginal’
“The Space Force is woefully short of the resources required to hold adversary space systems at risk, and is not ready to operate in a contested environment even though conflict with a major adversary will likely begin in space,” the report says. “While most of its current capabilities are highly effective in an uncontested environment, the Space Force lacks the capacity and capability to be ready for conflict in space.”
Space Was ‘First Mover’ In Iran Conflict, Top General Says
Military space capabilities played a critical role in the early stages of Operation Epic Fury, according to the Pentagon’s top general.
Austria Commissions its First Military Sat
Austria is prepping to launch its first military-commissioned satellite to fight a growing, invisible threat—interference with satellite navigation.
NRO Awards Contracts to Three Remote Sensing Companies
The contracts, announced on Tuesday, are intended to allow the intel agency to access multiple remote sensing phenomenologies from EO to RF and beyond.
Exclusive: Viridian Space Signs CRADA Agreement with US Air Force
LEO is getting crowded, but there’s plenty of real estate available closer to home if you can make it work. California-based Viridian Space is aiming to do just that.
York Space Systems IPOs at $4.75B Valuation
The IPO offered a prime opportunity for retail investors looking to ride the wave of US defense spending that’s been buoyed by the Trump administration’s promises of Golden Dome.
US Army Puts Out the Call for Space Soldiers
Space is the ultimate high ground, and the US Army just put out a call for a new type of soldier to keep watch on the walls.
Varda, Stratolaunch to Launch Pentagon Hypersonics
Last week, the Pentagon announced that it had awarded two contracts to Varda Space Industries and Stratolaunch as providers for Task Area 3 of the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program, which focuses on reusable flight concepts for hypersonic missile tests.
Loft Orbital Wins €50M Contract to Build French SAR Sat
The demo is part of France’s DESIR program, which is intended to widen the pool of EO capabilities available to the French defense sector.
