Sunday Report 5 October 2025

The Week In National Security Space

Personnel

Wilsbach nominated for next Air Force Chief. On September 30, President Donald Trump nominated Gen Kenneth Wilsbach to be the next chief of staff for the Air Force after Gen David Allvin’s retirement announcement in August. Gen Wilsbach must still be confirmed by the Senate.

Congress / White House

Government shuts down, authorization for SBIR/STTR programs expires. As of October 1, the government officially entered a shutdown. The Senate is out of session until October 6, when leadership is expected to force a fifth vote on a House-passed proposal to fund the government through November 21. Both the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs require reauthorization by Congress, so until an appropriations bill is passed, new solicitations are halted. Current SBIR/STTR contracts and grants remain valid, though oversight and payments may slow.

Space Force

Space Force to hire deputy acquisition chief before permanent pick. The Space Force will bring on a civilian deputy acquisition chief before the President and Senate choose a permanent leader, Maj Gen Stephen Purdy said at the AFA Air, Space, and Cyber Conference. The deputy will temporarily run space acquisitions as acting service acquisition executive (SAE) once hired. Applications are in but the selection process could take weeks or months. Maj Gen Purdy has been the acting SAE since January 2025 and stated his term ends in January 2026 whether or not a permanent chief is named by then.

Space Force creates new intel ‘production’ unit. The Space Force has created a new Space Intelligence Production Center (SIPC) designed to streamline the flow of threat information to warfighters for day-to-day operations. The SIPC combines the 76th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron (ISRS) from Space Force Delta 7, and the 4th Intelligence Analysis Squadron (IAS) from the National Space Intelligence Center.

ATLAS operationally accepted. After a trial period that lasted almost a year, the Space Force operationally accepted the Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System known as ATLAS, its software-centric program for managing, processing and disseminating space monitoring data. The move paves the way to finally sunset the 1980s-era Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC) after nearly two decades of replacement attempts, including the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) Mission System (JMS). During an interview with Breaking Defense in September, Shannon Pallone, program executive officer of Battle Management, Command, Control, Communications, and Space Intelligence (BMC3I) described the milestone as delivering the “the key capabilities [needed] to not be reliant on the SPADOC system,” stressing it as a first step to improving the Space Force’s ability to detect, track, and characterize objects in space in a precise enough way to allow persistent “eyes” on adversary satellites. A Space Operations Command spokesperson told Breaking Defense that at the moment there isn’t a set timeframe for SPADOC to be shut down.

International

Germany announces $41B in defense space technologies. Germany will invest 35B euros ($41.1B) into defense space technologies within the next five years. The funding is expected to cover sovereign German infrastructure and not go toward projects coordinated on the European level. German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius announced the funding initiative on September 25 at the Federation of German Industries Space Congress in Berlin. German industry professionals praised this move, calling the investment a “watershed moment.” Sven Meyer-Brunswick, a venture investor at Alpine Space Ventures shared with SpaceNews, “For the very first time, this is a very clear signal that the relevance of space has been understood by the German Ministry of Defense, which has not been the case in the past.” Pierre Lionnet, managing director of ASD Eurospace noted, “in 30 years working in the space sector I have never seen any message that strong towards increased space defense capabilities in Europe.”

Industry

Maxar Splits and Rebrands as Vantor and Lanteris. On October 1, space company Maxar Technologies dropped its name and split into two: Vantor (intelligence and data) and Lanteris (satellite building). Private equity firm Advent International bought Maxar for $6.4B in 2023 and pushed the rebrand to give each business a clear identity. Vantor, based in Colorado, is shifting from just selling satellite photos to advanced AI tools like Tensorglobe, which fuses data from satellites, drones, and sensors into 3D maps of Earth. Lanteris, based in California, focuses on defense work, which includes building missile-tracking satellites for the Space Development Agency, and balancing its commercial and government business for the first time in decades.

The Week Ahead