Top Stories

Ricky Freeman Exits Amazon LEO Government Leadership

Ricky Freeman is out as head of Amazon LEO Government, Breaking Defense reports exclusively. Freeman joined the division in 2023 as Amazon ramped up its push into the defense market, positioning Project Kuiper-adjacent services against Starlink’s growing military footprint.

His departure raises questions about Amazon’s near-term strategy for government LEO contracts at a moment when DoD satellite communications spending is actively contested between commercial providers.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Voyager Opens Defense and Space Tech Hub in Long Beach

Voyager Space has opened a new facility in Long Beach, California focused on electronics and software development for missile defense and space programs. The hub is intended to consolidate engineering work supporting defense-oriented space systems.

Long Beach puts Voyager close to other major aerospace primes and gives the company a West Coast base for hardware development alongside its existing operations.

Read the full story: SpaceNews

Pentagon Iran Supplemental Request Tops $50 Billion

Pentagon comptroller Jules Hurst confirmed a supplemental funding request tied to Iran is expected to exceed $50 billion, covering a mix of new systems and legacy platforms. Hurst gave no timeline for when Congress will receive the formal request.

The scale of the request suggests significant investment in missile defense and long-range strike capabilities — both areas with direct space support requirements including ISR satellites and missile warning assets.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Leonardo Plans Michelangelo Air Defense System Test in Ukraine

Leonardo will conduct a live test of its Michelangelo air defense dome system in Ukraine. The company projects the system will generate €21 billion in new business by 2035.

Air defense systems operating in contested environments increasingly rely on space-based ISR and satellite communications for targeting data and command links — making ground-based dome deployments directly relevant to space architecture requirements.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Army Builds New Data Operations Center for Global Info Distribution

The U.S. Army is standing up a new Data Operation Center within weeks, designed to function as a central node for moving information across the globe. Army leadership described it as a “9-1-1” for data sharing — addressing longstanding problems with fragmented and slow information distribution.

Space-based relay and LEO communications constellations are core to that kind of real-time global data movement, making this center a potential driver of future Army satellite communications contracts.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Army FMS Catalog to Prioritize Air Defense, Long-Range Fires, and UAS

Army acquisition chief Brent Ingraham outlined four priority categories for a new Foreign Military Sales weapons catalog: integrated air and missile defense, long-range fires, UAS, and counter-UAS systems. The catalog is intended to streamline sales to allied nations.

All four categories have space dependencies — from targeting and navigation to communications and early warning — which may drive parallel FMS interest in allied access to U.S. military space services.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Government Shutdown Creates “Execution Volatility” for Small Defense Suppliers

Rachel Gorken, president of GMS Industrial Supply, writes in a Breaking Defense op-ed that government shutdowns don’t just pause spending — they fracture the demand signal for smaller suppliers who can’t absorb procurement gaps the way large primes can. She frames the problem as “execution volatility,” not temporary delay.

Small suppliers supporting satellite components and space ground systems face the same pressure. Irregular Pentagon buying cycles create production gaps that are difficult to recover without consistent contract flow.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Satellite of the Day

OPS 9443 (DSCS II F-13)

OPS 9443, better known as DSCS II F-13, is a veteran US military communications satellite that has been quietly relaying secure transmissions since its launch on November 21, 1979. Built by TRW for the Air Force Space Systems Division, this spacecraft belongs to the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) family—a critical backbone of US Department of Defense communications. Launched aboard a Titan IIIC from Cape Canaveral, the satellite was designed with a modest 5-year operational lifetime, yet it has proven far more durable than originally expected, demonstrating the robust engineering of Cold War-era space hardware.

The satellite employs spin-stabilization technology and carries two X-Band transponders for relaying military communications across its coverage area. At 610 kilograms at launch and measuring 3.6 meters in length with a 2.7-meter diameter, it represents the compact but capable design philosophy of 1970s military satcom platforms. Though originally intended for just five years of service, its continued presence in orbit speaks to both the quality of its construction and the enduring demand for its communications capacity within the defense infrastructure.

Track this satellite in real-time: Track OPS 9443

Upcoming Space Launches

March 13

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:
  • Starlink Group 17-31 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA (10:58 UTC) 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. Watch Live Launch Preview

March 14

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:
  • Starlink Group 10-48 from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA (10:00 UTC) 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. Watch Live Launch Preview

March 15

• China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Long March 6A:
  • Unknown Payload from Launch Complex 9A, Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People’s Republic of China (13:14 UTC) Details not yet available. The Long March 6A is China’s first rocket to feature solid rocket boosters, developed by CASC and the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. It features two YF-100 engines on the first stage augmented by four solid rocket boosters, and first flew in March 2022. Launch Preview

March 16

• ExPace Kuaizhou 1A:

  • Unknown Payload from Launch Area 95A, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People’s Republic of China (04:04 UTC) Details not yet available. The Kuaizhou 1A is a quick-reaction solid-fueled orbital launch vehicle with a liquid-fueled fourth stage, capable of delivering up to 300 kg to low Earth orbit.

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:

  • Starlink Group 10-46 from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA (10:49 UTC) 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. Watch Live Launch Preview

March 17

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:
  • Starlink Group 17-24 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA (02:37 UTC) 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. Watch Live Launch Preview

March 18

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:
  • Starlink Group 10-33 from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA (10:57 UTC) 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. Watch Live

March 19

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:

  • Starlink Group 17-15 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA (14:00 UTC) 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. Watch Live

• Rocket Lab Electron:

  • Eight Days A Week (StriX Launch 8) from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand (17:45 UTC) The eighth Strix synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite for Synspective, a Japan-based Earth-observation company. This mission is part of a 27-launch dedicated Electron manifest procured by Synspective to build out its StriX constellation of 100 kg-class SAR satellites.

• Isar Aerospace Spectrum:

  • Onward and Upward from Orbital Launch Pad, Andøya Spaceport (20:00 UTC) The second test flight of Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket, carrying five CubeSats: CyBEEsat (TU Berlin), TriSat-S (University of Maribor), Platform 6 (EnduroSat), FramSat-1 (NTNU), and SpaceTeamSat1 (TU Wien Space Team), plus the “Let it Go” experiment from Dcubed. Exolaunch is managing payload integration and deployment. Delayed from January 21 due to a pressurization valve issue. Watch Live

March 22

• Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) Soyuz 2.1a:
  • Progress MS-33 (94P) from 31/6, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan (11:59 UTC) Uncrewed Progress resupply mission delivering cargo to the International Space Station.

March 24

• Rocket Lab Electron:
  • Daughter Of The Stars (LEO-PNT Pathfinder A) from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand (00:00 UTC) Two LEO-PNT Pathfinder A satellites built by Thales Alenia Space and GMV for the European Space Agency. The mission supports ESA’s Low Earth Orbit Positioning, Navigation and Timing demonstrator program, which aims to assess how a 10-satellite LEO constellation can complement the Galileo and EGNOS navigation systems in higher orbits.

Schedule Changes

• New launch added: Kuaizhou 1A | Unknown Payload (ExPace) has been added to the schedule, targeting liftoff from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on March 16 at 04:04 UTC.
• Launch Successful: Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 20 has been removed from the upcoming launch calendar following a successful launch.
• Launch Successful: Long March 2D | Shiyan 30 03-04 has been removed from the upcoming launch calendar following a successful launch.

Note: Launch dates and times are subject to change due to technical or weather considerations.