In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, Sep. 11 2023

Credit: U.S. Air Force.

With an expected continuing budget resolution on the way and hundreds of officers held up by a blanket hold on promotions, the head of the U.S. Air Force is becoming frustrated.

Credit: U.S. Air Force.

The U.S. Air Force is not, as an organization, prepared for a large-scale war and must look at overhauling its structure and how it can quickly deploy its forces, according to the service’s top civilian official.

Credit: Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin has unveiled an “Operations Center of the Future” satellite mission planning and command-and-control software testbed running in the cloud.

Credit: Northrop Grumman.

As the U.S. Space Force grows increasingly concerned about Chinese and Russian anti-satellite weapons, GEOST says its Starlite protective system will be integrated into the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tracking Layer Tranche 1 satellites.

Credit: United Launch Alliance.

An unknown number of satellites that are part of a new U.S. national security initiative to track objects from geosynchronous orbit (GEO) were deployed on Sept. 10 during one of the last Atlas V missions for the U.S. military.

Credit: SpaceX.

SpaceX says it has completed 57 corrective actions required by the FAA prior to a second flight test of the Starship Super Heavy launch system. 

Credit: NASA.

NASA has declared the Mars Oxygen-Generating Experiment (MOXIE) launched aboard the Mars Perseverance rover mission a success in demonstrating the extraction of oxygen from the red planet’s thin carbon dioxide atmosphere.

Credit: GA-ASI.

An air-launched, missile-firing uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) demonstrator funded by DARPA will enter flight testing in 2024, the prime contractor announced Sept. 11. 

F-35