Some Pentagon pencil pushers contend that the Air Force has a “weak” commitment to space programs, so they want, according to Defense News, to move responsibility for the highly successful Global Positioning System from the Air Force to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration. It sounds like someone is in search of a mission. At any rate, per Defense News, Air Force officials are aware of a draft memo outlining such a shift and, as far as we can tell, don’t seem too impressed.
The Space Force awarded three contracts for rocket launches worth up to a combined $13.68 billion on April 4—and the usual players SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have got some competition in the form of newcomer Blue Origin.