Sunday Report 7 December 2025

Personnel Update

ADM Correll assumes command of STRATCOM. For three years, Gen Anthony Cotton served as commander of STRATCOM, and on December 5, he handed the title over to ADM Richard Correll, who served as his deputy commander. ADM Correll shared that despite the changing leadership, the top priority of strategic deterrence remains the same.

Congress / White House

NDAA negotiators agree to $8B “placeholder” topline boost. The final version of the National Defense Authorization Act is expected as soon as this weekend (though not released yet at the time of this report’s publication) with a price tag that is $8B higher than President Donald Trump‘s budget request, according to House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA). The agreement would bring the topline of the final bill to roughly $901B. “I think where it’s ultimately going to land with the appropriators is at the President’s budget, but the appropriators will decide that,” he said at the Reagan National Defense Forum on December 6. “In the meantime, we have had to put in place a placeholder, because we have to do our tables.” Rep Smith signaled he’s likely to back the final package, though he said he’ll make a decision once remaining issues are settled.

White House releases National Security Strategy. On December 4, the White House published President Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy with the stated focus on priorities that make “America First.” The NSS defines top national goals as: 1) homeland defense (territory, population, economy); 2) industrial and technological strength; 3) control over borders and migration; and 4) maintaining U.S. preeminence as a sovereign republic and global power. One of the stated key shifts in prioritizing the Western Hemisphere will be through the reinforcement of the Monroe Doctrine in order to “deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere.” The strategy suggests several considerations for getting after this priority to include readjusting military presence “away from theaters whose relative import to American national security has declined.” The NSS also emphasized the importance of preserving a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region by protecting supply chains to critical minerals and deterring aggression in key areas. Another key shift of note in the NSS is the shift of European defense back to Europe with the U.S. organizing a burden-sharing network for “counties [sic] that willingly take more responsibility for security in their neighborhoods and align their export controls with ours.”

Space Force

SBIR at the heart of “vibrant industry” for Space Force. At the SpaceNews Icon Awards, Maj Gen Stephen Purdy, the U.S. Space Force’s top acquisition officer, highlighted the importance of the Small Business Innovation Research program, noting that many of the technologies that now populate the Space Force’s early-stage development pipeline use its funding. SBIR’s authority expired on September 30 and has yet to be renewed. The House approved a one-year extension, but the Senate is pushing for the INNOVATE Act which adds layers of oversight. Neither chamber has found a compromise, leaving SBIR in limbo. “I think space has shown that we can take that authority and take that funding and use it for really good measures,” he said, calling on Congress to restore the program.

Space Force plans surveillance satellites to complement RG-XX. The Space Force’s strategy to replace its fleet of neighborhood watch satellites in geosynchronous orbit includes plans to field multiple satellite constellations, one focused on reconnaissance and one focused on surveillance that will autonomously track objects in GEO. The RG-XX reconnaissance fleet will have spacecraft that can refuel and maneuver to get a better look at specific objects or threats in GEO. The surveillance fleet, in contrast, will be “capable of wide-area volume search and tasked collections on priority objects,” using wide-field-of-view electro-optical sensors, according to a request for information from Space Systems Command. “The primary objective of this proliferated constellation will be to autonomously search for, detect, and revisit Resident Space Objects in and around the Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit-belt,” the RFI states.

STARCOM: Approach to launch could provide lessons for DoD acquisition reform. At the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference this week, Maj Gen James Smith, commander of Space Training and Readiness Command, pointed to the transformation of the U.S. Eastern Range as evidence for enacting the SECDEF’s vision for defense acquisition. “For years, we were trained that the goal was to get risk as close as you can to zero. But as the commercial companies came onto our range, they questioned a lot of those assumptions,” Maj Gen Smith said. The region is on track to conduct nearly 170 launches, breaking a record. “It’s more a risk tradeoff that has occurred, and they’re willing to take some additional acquisition risk in order to drive operational outcomes at a faster rate. So, I think that’s what we need to do,” he shared. Though he added that increased risk would never be to the public, but rather in “test, training, acquisition.”

Interagency / Other Departments

Povak: NRO proliferated LEO constellation outperforming expectations, readies new acquisition approach. The National Reconnaissance Office is seeing “great output” from its constellation of proliferated low-Earth orbit satellites and is working with the Space Force and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to operationalize the capability, according to Deputy Director Maj Gen Chris Povak. Speaking Dec 3 at AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, he shared that the spacecraft carry a variety of payloads for several mission sets, including communications and imaging, and will provide a foundation for the space-based ground-moving target indicator system NRO is developing with the Space Force. The satellites have, to date, generated more than 160,000 imagery and data collections, outperforming NRO’s expectations. The agency has also facilitated 81 “activation opportunities” with the military services and combatant commands, providing specific data sets to support exercises and other training events. Maj Gen Povak shared that the NRO is now moving to switch up how it acquires commercial data to augment what is gleaned from its own classified satellites. “The next round of our strategic commercial enhancements contracts will be through a commercial solutions opening, or CSO, which is a new contract mechanism that has a revolving five-year window and allows industry partners to put in bids for proposal,” he said.

Golden Dome

Space-based interceptors in development. The Space Force has begun awarding prototype contracts for space-based interceptors, an early step in the Pentagon’s push to field its planned Golden Dome missile defense architecture. These awards seek prototypes for boost-phase interceptors, which are meant to target missiles in the first minutes after launch. Boost-phase defense aims to hit a rocket while it is still burning, bright, and comparatively easy to track. But reacting within seconds requires a large number of satellites in low-Earth orbit. The boost-phase SBI approach has drawn scrutiny from analysts who argue that the physics and constellation size requirements make the concept difficult to field at scale. Midcourse defense engages the warhead later in space, giving operators more time, and reducing the number of required satellites. It also demands far more advanced sensors to distinguish real warheads from decoys. SSC has issued a pre-solicitation notice for kinetic midcourse interceptor concepts. How the interceptors are used depends on the final architecture the Pentagon selects.

International

ESA focuses on space defense with new ERS initiative. As part of a larger US$27B three-year budget, the European Space Agency ministerial authorized European Resilience from Space (ERS) to support space defense programs across its 23 member states. After 50 years as a solely civil-focused space agency, ESA is shifting as European governments grow more concerned with threats to their space systems and about their reliance on United States for key military space capabilities. The US$1.6B ERS initiative focuses on dual-use technologies to underpin a proposed new network of Earth observation satellites (called the Earth Observation Governmental Service) and a new effort to provide low-earth orbit based navigation services. ERS could expand over time to support other space security and defense capabilities as ESA leaders voted to allow member states a year to decide what more they might want to put into the budget.

NSpOC awards Spaceflux key role in BOREALIS C2 system. The UK’s National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) awarded a third contract to startup Spaceflux, which positions the company to be a major provider of space monitoring data. “Under the 3 contracts, Spaceflux will be able to deliver persistent surveillance across all orbits — from LEO [low Earth orbit] to GEO [geosynchronous Earth orbit] and beyond — combining routine monitoring of priority UK satellites with on-demand tasking in the event of collisions, fragmentations, or unexpected manoeuvres,” the company announced November 20. Their 15 electro-optical telescopes are equipped with short-wave infrared imaging that provides day and night capability based around the globe with the data being augmented through a consortium of other providers to feed into NSpOC’s BOREALIS command and control system. These providers include: Safran and GMV, providing passive radio-frequency geolocation data; Look Up, data from radar; EOS, laser ranging data; and Optera, data from neuromorphic cameras. NSpOC currently claims collision warning services for over 90% of all UK-licensed satellites including 100% of UK satellites in the most congested Low Earth Orbit (LEO) after just one year of operations.

Threats

China launches another classified satellite with unknown mission. China’s Long March 7A, typically used for launches to geosynchronous orbit, successfully orbited the Shijian-28 on November 30. The Shijian program comprises a diverse series of satellites, typically used to conduct experiments, test new technologies, and verify operational practices on orbit. For example, two separate satellites in geosynchronous orbit, Shijian-21 and Shijian-25, recently separated after spending months apparently docked in order to conduct on-orbit refueling tests. Orbital data for Shijian-28, which is currently unavailable, may provide some insights into its purposes.

China aims to align commercial space with national goals. China’s space administration has published a policy blueprint aimed at accelerating development of commercial space and embedding it within its broader national space ambitions. The document sets out 22 key measures to boost innovation, improve the efficiency of resource use, expand industrial capabilities, and strengthen safety supervision across the commercial space domain. China aims to forge a coordinated commercial space ecosystem with scaled production, stronger innovation, efficient resource use, and tighter governance, essentially delivering a fully realized, high-quality commercial space sector.

The Week Ahead

Monday, 8 December

WIA’s International Security Space Partners Event. Washington, D.C. (more)

DISA 2025 Forecast to Industry (F2I). Towson, MD & Virtual. (more)

Tuesday, 9 December

SSCI: To receive a closed briefing on certain intelligence matters. Washington, D.C. (more)

Mitchell Institute: Charting a Path to Space Superiority: The Cross-Domain Imperative. Virtual. (more)

Defense Talks 2025 w/ Hon Emil Michael, Katie Arrington, et. al. Washington, D.C. (more)

SFA Spacepower Golf Tournament. Orlando, FL. (more)

Wednesday, 10 December

Aspen Security Forum: DC Edition w/ Sen Dave McCormick, Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi, et. al. Washington, D.C. (more)

CSIS Report Launch: Project Atom 2025. Washington, D.C. & Virtual. (more)

SFA Guardian Professional Development Day. Orlando, FL. (more)

SFA Spacepower Conference 2025. Dec 10-12. Orlando, FL. (more)

Thursday, 11 December

SFA Spacepower Conference 2025 w/ Hon Troy Meink, Gen Chance Saltzman, Gen Stephen Whiting, Lt Gen (ret) Deanna Burt, Lt Gen Doug Schiess, Lt Gen Philip Garrant, Maj Gen Stephen Purdy, Col Brian Chatman, CMSgt John Bentivegna, CMSgt Jacqueline Sauve, CMSgt Ron Lerch, Katharine Kelley, James “Woody” Haywood, Dr. GP Sandhoo, Dr. Thomas Griffy, Bill Liquori, et. al. Dec 10-12. Orlando, FL. (more)

WIA Awards Dinner. Arlington, VA. (more)

HPSCI: FY 2026 Department of Defense Proposal for Cover Enhancement Authority (CLOSED). Washington, D.C. (more)

Friday, 12 December

SFA Spacepower Conference 2025 w/ Lt Gen David Miller, Lt Gen Greg Gagnon, Lt Gen Dennis Bythewood, AM Paul Godfrey, Brig Gen Jacob Middleton, Col Eric Zarybinsky, Dr. Kelly Hammett, Dr. GP Sandhoo, Shannon Pallone, F. Schnell, Barb Golf, et. al. Dec 10-12. Orlando, FL. (more)