SpaceX Wants To Launch Space Missions For The US Air Force

The SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket soars after lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Fla. on Dec. 3, 2013. The mission is SpaceX's first commercial satellite launch into a geostationary transfer orbit. This photo was released Nov. 28, 2013. Credit SpaceX

SpaceX Poised to Launch Space Missions for US Air Force, Elon Musk Says -- Space.com

The private spaceflight company SpaceX wants to launch missions for the United States military, and soon it will be ready to do so, the firm's billionaire founder Elon Musk told a Senate subcomittee Wednesday (March 5).

SpaceX will be ready to compete for Air Force contracts using its new Falcon rocket soon, Elon Musk told a U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense hearing. SpaceX currently flies missions for NASA and private contractors.

"Frankly, if our rockets are good enough for NASA, why are they not good enough for the Air Force? It doesn't make sense," Musk said.

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More News On SpaceX Wanting To Launch Space Missions For The US Air Force

Elon Musk Ready to Provide Rockets to US Military at Lower Prices -- IBTimes
SpaceX's Elon Musk chides Senate for paying too much for launches -- UPI
Billionaire Musk makes push to launch military satellites -- L.A. Times
SpaceX’s Musk Plays Russia Card in U.S. Launch Fight -- SFGate
USAF Cuts Near-Term Competitive Launches -- Aviation Week
Near-term Pool of Competitively Awarded U.S. Military Launches Shrinks for SpaceX -- Space News
Elon Musk’s Plan to Save the Military $1B a Year -- Bloomberg
Elon Musk makes SpaceX case to US Senate for fair competition -- Slash Gear
PayPal Billionaire, Boeing Battle Over Who Can Build a Better Space Taxi -- NextGov

The U.S. Air Force's Space Shuttle

The Air Force hopes its unmanned X-37 (in taxi tests in 2007)
will take on some of the functions of the shuttle. (USAF)

Space Shuttle Jr. -- The Air & Space Smithsonian

After 2010, the only spaceplane in the U.S. inventory will be the Air Force's mysterious X-37.

It's been a long wait—in some ways, more than 50 years—but in April 2010, the U.S. Air Force is scheduled to launch an Atlas V booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the newest U.S. spacecraft, the unmanned X-37, to orbit. The X-37 embodies the Air Force's desire for an operational spaceplane, a wish that dates to the 1950s, the era of the rocket-powered X-15 and X-20. In other ways, though, the X-37 will be picking up where another U.S. spaceplane, NASA's space shuttle, leaves off.

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My Comment: This is the first time that I am seeing a picture of the X-37. It does not look impressive, but I guess it is it's functionality and cargo that makes it important. There is no mention of who will be the pilots for this shuttle, but my guess is that it will be U.S. Air Force personnel .... names probably kept on a need to know basis.

The Decline in U.S. Power In Outer Space

Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director; Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence; and Gen. Michael V. Hayden, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, at a February hearing. (Photo from the New York Times)

Tension May Feed Decline of U.S. Power in Space
-- Washington Post

Differences between the Pentagon and intelligence agencies over capabilities to be built into future U.S. satellites have led to delayed starts in new programs and may result in a decline in U.S. space dominance, according to a new report by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

The underlying issue, according to two members of the committee, is the traditional tension that exists between the needs of two customers: intelligence agencies, which want to gather strategic information for policymakers, and the Defense Department, which requires tactical information for war fighters.

"Recent organizational changes and inter-departmental agreements involving the Office of Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the Department of Defense, and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) have highlighted the question of leadership of space acquisition programs," the committee report says.

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My Comment: A classic example of what happens when you lack leadership, vision and direction, and a will to make sure your objectives are met.

How the War In Iraq And Afghanistan Is Fought -- A Look Inside The Air Force's Control Center For Iraq And Afghanistan

From U.S. News And World Report:

Far from the physical battlefields, analysts and targeters hunt the enemy and initiate airstrikes

COMBINED AIR AND SPACE OPERATIONS CENTER, MIDDLE EAST—As the grainy intelligence video unfolds, one of Iraq's many jauntily decorated trucks rolls to a stop carrying passengers who are, according to U.S. military officials, insurgents from outside of Baghdad. An unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, has detected infrared signals—traces of heat—on the antiaircraft artillery gun mounted on the flatbed, which suggests that it has been recently fired.

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My Comment: Predators, satellites, GPS, laser guided missiles, etc. .... the future battlefield will be done by people who cannot be shot at, wounded, or kill. For Islamic militants in Iraq or Afghanistan, I am sure that the thought that is going through their minds right now is ..... how can you fight an enemy like that.