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77-957: The Defense Acquisition Board ( DAB ) is the senior advisory board for defense acquisitions in the Department of Defense of the United States . The board is chaired by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and includes the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , the Service Secretaries ( Secretary of the Army , Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Air Force ), as well as

154-550: A USSF-124 mission in February 2024. SDA began as a direct reporting unit (DRU) of DoD's USD(R&E): research and engineering. By design, the functions for acquisition and sustainment (A&S) are the responsibility of another under secretary of defense —the USD(A&;S); this separation of function decouples the technology development of a working prototype system, even the systems as complicated as those taken on by

231-729: A hole" in the constellation immediately before launching an attack. When the Biden administration took ownership of the program in 2021, they appeared to take heed of these concerns but still signed on to a $ 500M increase for the agency in the FY2023 spending bill. The Heritage Foundation , a conservative think tank, dubbed the Space Development Agency "a model for the military". In their 2025 Mandate for Leadership , they call to develop new offensive space capabilities to "impose [American] will if necessary". They further claim

308-464: A military defense force stagnated as they focused on other concerns relevant to setting up the new government. President George Washington went to Congress to remind them of their duty to establish a military twice during this time. Finally, on the last day of the session, September 29, 1789, Congress created the War Department . The War Department handled naval affairs until Congress created

385-462: A mix of fields of view (FOVs). The FOVs in the IR cameras will be either wide FOV (WFOV), or medium FOV (MFOV) for low-resolution, or higher-resolution tracking capability respectively. If such a satellite were to prove performant, and launched early, and no later than April 2027, a vendor could receive an incentive payment. Each vendor is to provide 18 satellites, of which 16 are to carry WFOV cameras;

462-544: A number of Under Secretaries of Defense . Initially created in 1989, the DAB plays an important role in the Defense Acquisition System. Members of this board are responsible for approving new phases of major weapon programs, including ensuring that such programs are completed on schedule, within budget, and in accordance with their technical requirements. This United States government–related article

539-507: A seamless connection between the satellite data and weapon systems. The Beta satellites will attempt “extremely difficult” contacts with aircraft and missiles in flight, Turner said. Among the SDA projects: SDA's initial launch of 10 satellites (denoted Tranche 0) had been scheduled for December 2022; however tests of 8 of these satellites indicated that each had a noisy power supply . The contractor, York Space Systems retrofitted filters on

616-657: A separate organization to circumvent its own procurement process. Despite the pushback, the Pentagon did not require congressional authorization to create the SDA, and Wilson was overruled by Patrick M. Shanahan , who became acting defense secretary by appointment of Donald Trump . He placed the new agency under the authority and control of Mike Griffin who was also appointed as Under Secretary of Defense (R&E) . Despite these early successes, SDA still faces critical challenges. The Union of Concerned Scientists warned SDA could escalate tensions with Russia and China and called

693-614: A third vendor, Rocket Lab LLC, was selected to supply 18 space vehicles, an additional part of the Beta Tranche 2 Tracking Layer (T2TL) tranche, for a total of 90 space vehicles in the Beta T2TL tranche. On 16 January 2024, the SDA announced an award to three vendors worth up to $ 2.5 billion. These vendors will supply "preliminary fire control" satellites in the Tranche 2 Tracking Layer. They will carry infrared (IR) cameras , with

770-589: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense ( DoD , USDOD , or DOD ) is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S. government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces . As of November 2022,

847-610: Is not military, such as the Department of Homeland Security, counter-terrorism spending by the FBI, and intelligence-gathering spending by the NSA. In the 2010 United States federal budget , the Department of Defense was allocated a base budget of $ 533.7 billion, with a further $ 75.5 billion adjustment in respect of 2009, and $ 130 billion for overseas contingencies. The subsequent 2010 Department of Defense Financial Report shows

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924-540: Is the secretary and their deputies, including predominantly civilian staff. OSD is the principal staff element of the Secretary of Defense in the exercise of policy development, planning, resource management, fiscal and program evaluation and oversight, and interface and exchange with other U.S. federal government departments and agencies, foreign governments, and international organizations, through formal and informal processes. OSD also performs oversight and management of

1001-485: Is to be interconnected by free-space optical laser terminals in a secure command and control optical mesh network . Satellites are to be low cost and "proliferated" in low Earth orbit. New commercial technology such as reusable launch systems have reduced deployment costs and new mass-produced commercial satellites offer less "juicy" targets for anti-satellite weapons by being inexpensive and potentially hard to distinguish from other commercial satellites. Development

1078-445: Is to follow the spiral model , incorporating learning from previous iterations and launching new satellite replacements regularly as the useful lifetime of each is relatively short. The SDA expects to field and maintain a constellation of at least 1,000 satellites on orbit by 2026. The SDA has mostly avoided flaws that plagued earlier proliferated missile defense programs such as Brilliant Pebbles . The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

1155-769: The Central Intelligence Agency , the National Security Council , National Security Resources Board , United States Air Force , and the Joint Chiefs of Staff . The act placed the National Military Establishment under the control of a single secretary of defense . The National Military Establishment formally began operations on September 18, the day after the Senate confirmed James V. Forrestal as

1232-970: The Eisenhower School (ES) and the National War College (NWC). Faced with rising tensions between the Thirteen Colonies and the British government , one of the first actions taken by the First Continental Congress in September 1774 was to recommend that the colonies begin defensive military preparations. In mid-June 1775, after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War , the Second Continental Congress , recognizing

1309-523: The Navy Department in 1798. The secretaries of each department reported directly to the president as cabinet-level advisors until 1949, when all military departments became subordinate to the Secretary of Defense. After the end of World War II , President Harry Truman proposed the creation of a unified department of national defense. In a special message to the Congress on December 19, 1945,

1386-674: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence . They fulfill the requirements of national policymakers and war planners, serve as Combat Support Agencies , and also assist and deploy alongside non-Department of Defense intelligence or law enforcement services such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation . The military services each have their intelligence elements that are distinct from but subject to coordination by national intelligence agencies under

1463-540: The Strategic Defense Initiative and Brilliant Pebbles in the 1980s. These programs, however, were discontinued in the 1990s due to high cost and political disagreement. Later, the United States and other countries developed hypersonic weapons , which Griffin argued were thermally dimmer and could only be reliably tracked by low-flying satellites with infrared sensors, creating a need to resurrect such programs. In addition to hypersonic weapons,

1540-595: The deputy secretary of defense . Secretaries of military departments, in turn, normally exercise authority over their forces by delegation through their respective service chiefs (i.e., Chief of Staff of the Army , Commandant of the Marine Corps , Chief of Naval Operations , Chief of Staff of the Air Force , and Chief of Space Operations ) over forces not assigned to a Combatant Command . Secretaries of Military Departments and service chiefs do not possess operational command authority over U.S. troops (this power

1617-518: The fiscal year 2024 (FY2024) presidential budget request was $ 842   billion. In January 2023 Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced the US government would hit its $ 31.4   trillion debt ceiling on 19 January 2023; the date on which the US government would no longer be able to use extraordinary measures such as issuance of Treasury securities is estimated to be in June 2023. On 3 June 2023,

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1694-593: The 8 satellites at no cost to the government; the initial launch was delayed to March 2023, including the 8 retrofitted by York Space Systems. On 2 April 2023 the first 10 satellites of Tranche 0 were launched into low earth orbit, as planned. These satellites will demonstrate the responsive (low latency) communication links of the Transport layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). An initial checkout of

1771-595: The Army , Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Air Force ), appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate . They have the legal authority under Title 10 of the United States Code to conduct all the affairs of their respective departments within which the military services are organized. The secretaries of the Military Departments are (by law) subordinate to the secretary of defense and (by SecDef delegation) to

1848-1031: The Biden administration "has eliminated almost all offensive deterrence capabilities" in space that were planned under the Trump administration. In 2020, 13th Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Will Roper expressed interest in the SpaceX Starlink satellite internet constellation as a platform for the SDA. SDA awarded its first contracts in August 2020. Lockheed Martin received $ 188 million and York Space Systems received $ 94 million to each build 10 data relay satellites for its transport layer. In October 2020, SDA chose SpaceX and L3Harris Technologies to develop four satellites each to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The initial tranche of satellites were originally scheduled to launch September 2022. However,

1925-539: The CIA's human intelligence efforts while also focusing on military human intelligence priorities. These agencies are directly overseen by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security . The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the Department of Defense who advise the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council , the National Security Council and

2002-735: The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) as the "principal military adviser to the President, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense". The remaining Joint Chiefs of Staff may only have their advice relayed to the President, National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council , or the Secretary of Defense after submitting it to the CJCS. By law,

2079-562: The Defense Agencies, Department of Defense Field Activities, and specialized Cross Functional Teams . OSD is a parent agency of the following defense agencies: Several defense agencies are members of the United States Intelligence Community . These are national-level intelligence services that operate under the Department of Defense jurisdiction but simultaneously fall under the authorities of

2156-577: The Department of Defense are in Title 10 of the United States Code . Other significant legislation related to the Department of Defense includes: Space Development Agency The Space Development Agency (SDA) was established in 2019 by Mike Griffin with his appointment to Under Secretary of Defense (R&E) by President Donald Trump . Griffin, a long time advocate for low Earth orbit constellations to eliminate U.S. vulnerability to ballistic missiles with his work on space-based interceptors for

2233-523: The Department of Defense budget, such as nuclear weapons research, maintenance, cleanup, and production, which is in the Department of Energy budget, Veterans Affairs, the Treasury Department's payments in pensions to military retirees and widows and their families, interest on debt incurred in past wars, or State Department financing of foreign arms sales and militarily-related development assistance. Neither does it include defense spending that

2310-474: The Department of Defense. Department of Defense manages the nation's coordinating authorities and assets in disciplines of signals intelligence , geospatial intelligence , and measurement and signature intelligence , and also builds, launches, and operates the Intelligence Community's satellite assets. Department of Defense also has its own human intelligence service , which contributes to

2387-600: The FY 2019 budget: "The overall number you often hear is $ 716 billion. That is the amount of funding for national defense, the accounting code is 050 and includes more than simply the Department of Defense. It includes, for example, the Department of Energy and others. That large a number, if you back out the $ 30 billion for non-defense agencies, you get to $ 686 billion. That is the funding for the Department of Defense, split between $ 617 billion in base and $ 69 billion in overseas contingency ". The Department of Defense budget encompasses

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2464-520: The FY2018 Budget expired and the FY2019 budget came into effect. The FY2019 Budget for the Department of Defense is approximately $ 686,074,048,000 (Including Base + Overseas Contingency Operations + Emergency Funds) in discretionary spending and $ 8,992,000,000 in mandatory spending totaling $ 695,066,000,000 Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller) David L. Norquist said in a hearing regarding

2541-812: The Joint Chiefs of Staff ( JCS ) and the Joint Staff ( JS ), Office of the Inspector General ( DODIG ), the Combatant Commands , the Military Departments ( Department of the Army (DA), Department of the Navy (DON) & Department of the Air Force (DAF)), the Defense Agencies and Department of Defense Field Activities , the National Guard Bureau (NGB), and such other offices, agencies, activities, organizations, and commands established or designated by law, or by

2618-588: The NDAA on 14 December 2023. The Senate will next undertake negotiations on supplemental spending for 2024. A government shutdown was averted on 23 March 2024 with the signing of a $ 1.2 trillion bill to cover FY2024. A 2013 Reuters investigation concluded that Defense Finance & Accounting Service , the Department of Defense's primary financial management arm, implements monthly "unsubstantiated change actions"—illegal, inaccurate "plugs"—that forcibly make DoD's books match Treasury's books. Reuters reported that

2695-1106: The National Security Agency ( NSA ), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency ( NGA ), and the National Reconnaissance Office ( NRO ). Other Defense agencies include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA ), the Defense Logistics Agency ( DLA ), the Missile Defense Agency ( MDA ), the Defense Health Agency ( DHA ), Defense Threat Reduction Agency ( DTRA ), the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency ( DCSA ),

2772-416: The Pentagon was the only federal agency that had not released annual audits as required by a 1992 law. According to Reuters, the Pentagon "annually reports to Congress that its books are in such disarray that an audit is impossible". In 2015, a Pentagon consulting firm performed an audit on the Department of Defense's budget. It found that there was $ 125 billion in wasteful spending that could be saved over

2849-673: The President to the Secretary of Defense, the service chief of the Unified Combatant Commander(s), and then to the unified combatant commander(s). Also provided in this legislation was a centralized research authority, the Advanced Research Projects Agency , eventually known as DARPA . The act was written and promoted by the Eisenhower administration and was signed into law on August 6, 1958. The Secretary of Defense , appointed by

2926-763: The SDA, from overcomplication induced by the processes of the DoD. The SDA has relied heavily on "Section 804" Mid-Tier Acquisitions (MTAs) to avoid traditional defense procurement requirements. SDA has been able to forgo a number of reporting activities by breaking up larger programs into numerous two-year rapid fielding projects that each qualify as MTAs. Members of Congress and the Government Accountability Office have said this obfuscates costs and limits transparency. The FY23 omnibus appropriations act, signed by President Joe Biden on 29 December 2022, levies new reporting and certification requirements on

3003-637: The Space Development Agency ( SDA ) and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency ( PFPA ), all of which are subordinate to the secretary of defense. Additionally, the Defense Contract Management Agency ( DCMA ) is responsible for administering contracts for the Department of Defense. Military operations are managed by eleven regional or functional unified combatant commands . The Department of Defense also operates several joint services schools, including

3080-669: The Tranche 1 Demonstration and Experimentation System. In 2022 contracts were awarded to York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin Space, and Northrop Grumman Space Systems. Tranche 2 satellites were solicited for bid in 2023, for launch in 2026. This consists of more than 550 satellites: 250 in the Transport Layer; 50 in the Tracking Layer; Transport Layer will have 100 Alpha satellites, 72 Beta satellites, and 44 Gamma satellites; The Beta satellites Request for Proposal (RFP)

3157-483: The U.S. Department of Defense is the second largest employer in the world after India (and potentially China, if including the Central Military Commission), with over 1.4  million active-duty service personnel, including soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardians. The Department of Defense also maintains over 778,000 National Guard and reservists, and over 747,000 civilians, bringing

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3234-609: The Unified Combatant Commands are responsible for military forces' actual operational command. Almost all operational U.S. forces are under the authority of a Unified Command. The Unified Commands are governed by a Unified Command Plan —a frequently updated document (produced by the DoD), which lays out the Command's mission, geographical/functional responsibilities, and force structure. During military operations,

3311-422: The United States , the latter of which is also the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces . Beneath the Department of Defense are three subordinate military departments: the Department of the Army , the Department of the Navy , and the Department of the Air Force . In addition, four national intelligence services are subordinate to the Department of Defense: the Defense Intelligence Agency ( DIA ),

3388-521: The allocation for the Department of Defense was $ 585  billion, the highest level of budgetary resources among all federal agencies, and this amounts to more than one-half of the annual federal expenditures in the United States federal budget discretionary budget . On September 28, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 (H.R.6157) into law. On September 30, 2018,

3465-438: The budgeted global military spending – more than the next 7 largest militaries combined. By 2019, the 27th secretary of defense had begun a line-by-line review of the defense budget; in 2020 the secretary identified items amounting to $ 5.7 billion, out of a $ 106 billion subtotal (the so-called "fourth estate" agencies such as missile defense, and defense intelligence, amounting to 16% of the defense budget), He will re-deploy to

3542-404: The chain of command runs from the president to the secretary of defense to the combatant commanders of the Combatant Commands. As of 2019 , the United States has eleven Combatant Commands, organized either on a geographical basis (known as " area of responsibility ", AOR) or on a global, functional basis: Department of Defense spending in 2017 was 3.15% of GDP and accounted for about 38% of

3619-430: The chairman has to present that advice whenever he is presenting his own. The chain of command goes from the president to the secretary of defense to the commanders of the Combatant Commands . Goldwater–Nichols also created the office of vice-chairman, and the chairman is now designated as the principal military adviser to the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and to

3696-440: The debt ceiling was suspended until 2025. The $ 886   billion National Defense Authorization Act is facing reconciliation of the House and Senate bills after passing both houses 27 July 2023; the conferees have to be chosen, next. As of September 2023, a Continuing resolution is needed to prevent a Government shutdown . A shutdown was avoided on 30 September for 45 days (until 17 November 2023), with passage of

3773-438: The department were streamlined while still maintaining the ordinary jurisdiction of the Military Departments to organize, train, and equip their associated forces. The Act clarified the overall decision-making authority of the secretary of defense concerning these subordinate Military Departments. It more clearly defined the operational chain of command over U.S. military forces (created by the military departments) as running from

3850-499: The energy needed for this is very low. Likewise, RF jamming is simpler when communication and radar satellites are in lower altitudes as less power is needed to saturate their low-noise amplifiers . It is also far easier to launch an anti-satellite weapon to destroy satellites in low Earth orbit (as demonstrated with small ASM-135 or RIM-161 missiles) given much less energy is required to kinetically intersect than to enter and maintain orbit. An adversary would simply need to "punch

3927-456: The first secretary of defense. The National Military Establishment was renamed the "Department of Defense" on August 10, 1949, and absorbed the three cabinet-level military departments, in an amendment to the original 1947 law. The renaming is alleged to be due to the Establishment's abbreviation, NME, being pronounced "enemy". Under the Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958 ( Pub. L.   85–599 ), channels of authority within

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4004-410: The initial launch slipped due to supply-chain issues for microelectronics such as radios, software problems, and protests by Raytheon and Airbus over procurement and evaluation process. SDA industry partners now include SpaceX , L3Harris Technologies , Northrop Grumman , Ball Aerospace and General Dynamics . A number of experimental satellites were launched in 2021. SDA plans to test some of

4081-404: The jurisdiction of other congressional committees. The Department of Defense is unique because it is one of the few federal entities where the majority of its funding falls into the discretionary category. The majority of the entire federal budget is mandatory, and much of the discretionary funding in the budget consists of DoD dollars. * Numbers may not add due to rounding As of 10 March 2023

4158-446: The key technologies in a series of on-orbit experiments that went up on Transporter-2 : Mandrake 2, the Laser Interconnect and Networking Communications System (LINCS), and the Prototype On-orbit Experimental Testbed (POET). SDA's current schedule expects Tranche 0 capability will be on orbit in time to support a summer 2023 demonstration. Link 16 connectivity between Five Eyes nations, via Low Earth Orbit Tranche 0 satellites

4235-447: The latest Center for Effective Government analysis of 15 federal agencies which receive the most Freedom of Information Act requests, published in 2015 (using 2012 and 2013 data, the most recent years available), the DoD earned 61 out of a possible 100 points, a D− grade. While it had improved from a failing grade in 2013, it still had low scores in processing requests (55%) and disclosure rules (42%). The organization and functions of

4312-438: The majority of the National Defense Budget of approximately $ 716.0 billion in discretionary spending and $ 10.8 billion in mandatory spending for a $ 726.8 billion total. Of the total, $ 708.1 billion falls under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Armed Services and Senate Armed Services Committee and is subject to authorization by the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The remaining $ 7.9 billion falls under

4389-617: The memorandum establishing the SDA also calls for a new space architecture "not bound by legacy methods or culture" that provides unifying command and control through a cross-domain artificial intelligence -enabled network. The Space Development Agency proposed the National Defense Space Architecture , later renamed the Proliferated Warfighting Space Architecture . It advances a network of global orbiters composed of layers with different military capabilities such as communications, surveillance, global navigation, battle management, deterrence, and missile defense. The satellite constellation

4466-589: The modernization of hypersonics, artificial intelligence, and missile defense. Beyond 2021 the 27th secretary of defense is projecting the need for yearly budget increases of 3 to 5 percent to modernize. The Department of Defense accounts for the majority of federal discretionary spending. In FY 2017, the Department of Defense budgeted spending accounted for 15% of the U.S. federal budget, and 49% of federal discretionary spending , which represents funds not accounted for by pre-existing obligations. However, this does not include many military-related items that are outside

4543-456: The necessity of having a national army that could move about and fight beyond the boundaries of any particular colony, organized the Continental Army on June 14, 1775. This momentous event is commemorated in the U.S. annually as Flag Day . Later that year, Congress would charter the Continental Navy on October 13, and the Continental Marines on November 10. Upon the seating of the 1st U.S. Congress on March 4, 1789, legislation to create

4620-579: The next five years without layoffs or reduction in military personnel. In 2016, The Washington Post uncovered that rather than taking the advice of the auditing firm, senior defense officials suppressed and hid the report from the public to avoid political scrutiny. In June 2016, the Office of the Inspector General released a report stating that the Army made $ 6.5 trillion in wrongful adjustments to its accounting entries in 2015. The Department of Defense failed its fifth audit in 2022, and could not account for more than 60% of its $ 3.5 trillion in assets. In

4697-523: The potential for lower satellite build costs. Political and administrative opposition to SDA came from 24th Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson who argued that "launching hundreds of cheap satellites into theater as a substitute for the complex architectures where we provide key capabilities to the warfighter will result in failure on America's worst day if relied upon alone." Members of Congress also gave concerns that SDA would drain resources and jobs from Air Force and questioned why DoD had to create

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4774-416: The president cited wasteful military spending and interdepartmental conflicts. Deliberations in Congress went on for months focusing heavily on the role of the military in society and the threat of granting too much military power to the executive. On July 26, 1947, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 , which set up a unified military command known as the National Military Establishment and created

4851-489: The president following U.S. Senate confirmation. Each of the individual Military Service Chiefs, outside their Joint Chiefs of Staff obligations, works directly for the secretary of the military department concerned: the Secretary of the Army , Secretary of the Navy , and Secretary of the Air Force . Following the Goldwater–Nichols Act in 1986, the Joint Chiefs of Staff no longer maintained operational command authority individually or collectively. The act designated

4928-442: The president on military matters. The composition of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is defined by statute and consists of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VCJCS), senior enlisted advisor to the chairman (SEAC), the Military Service chiefs from the Army , Marine Corps , Navy , Air Force , and Space Force , in addition to the chief of National Guard Bureau , all appointed by

5005-422: The president or by the secretary of defense. Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the organizational relationships within the department and is the foundational issuance for delineating the major functions of the department. The latest version, signed by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987. The Office of the Secretary of Defense ( OSD )

5082-410: The president with the advice and consent of the Senate , is by federal law ( 10 U.S.C.   § 113 ) the head of the Department of Defense, "the principal assistant to the President in all matters relating to Department of Defense", and has "authority, direction, and control over the Department of Defense". Because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the president,

5159-460: The president. The Joint Staff (JS) is a headquarters staff at the Pentagon made up of personnel from all five services that assist the chairman and vice chairman in discharging their duties. It is managed by the Director of the Joint Staff (DJS) who is a lieutenant general or vice admiral . There are three military departments within the Department of Defense: The Military Departments are each headed by their secretary (i.e., Secretary of

5236-558: The project "fundamentally destabilizing". Both China and Russia brought concerns to the United Nations about the U.S. plans for militarization of space. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has advocated for better use of arms control and international agreements such as a treaty halting related development by all parties to prevent an arms race in space. Critics have reiterated longstanding concerns that ground-based lasers can easily "paint" satellites in low Earth orbit, temporarily blinding their sensors. The APS reporting

5313-399: The remaining two are to be MFOV cameras. The Proliferated Warfighting Space Architecture (PWSA) will rely on these preliminary fire control satellites to perform the JADC2 concept. Tranche 2 Tracking capability will start after the 2026 launches. SDA satellites are the first to have direct-to-weapon control, as noted by SDA's technical director, Frank Turner. This capability allows for

5390-431: The satellite bus and mission payloads is the current priority. The second Tranche 0 launch, carrying 13 more satellites, took place on 2 September 2023. Of the 18 initially scheduled payloads one Transport satellite built by York has been excluded to conduct software tests, while the four Tracking satellites built by L3Harris had been kept on the ground by production delays and were launched later as rideshare payloads of

5467-421: The statutory authority of the secretary of defense is derived from their constitutional authority. Since it is impractical for either Congress or the president to participate in every piece of Department of Defense affairs, the secretary of defense and the secretary's subordinate officials generally exercise military authority. The Department of Defense is composed of the Office of the Secretary of Defense ( OSD ),

5544-456: The total budgetary resources for fiscal year 2010 were $ 1.2 trillion. Of these resources, $ 1.1 trillion were obligated and $ 994 billion were disbursed, with the remaining resources relating to multi-year modernization projects requiring additional time to procure. After over a decade of non-compliance , Congress has established a deadline of Fiscal year 2017 for the Department of Defense to achieve audit readiness . In 2015

5621-479: The total to over 2.91  million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia , just outside Washington, D.C. , the Department of Defense's stated mission is "to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security". The Department of Defense is headed by the secretary of defense , a cabinet-level head who reports directly to the president of

5698-530: Was a major impediment in the past, as these systems were deemed non-compliant with the treaty by Congress. However, George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the treaty in 2002, eliminating this barrier. Over the years, launch and manufacturing costs have been greatly reduced. Decades after the SDIO ’s DC-X failed there are now commercial reusable launch vehicles such as SpaceX 's Falcon 9 rocket. Meanwhile mass manufacturing as with Starlink has proven

5775-564: Was demonstrated from 21 November to 27 November 2023. Global coverage of missile launches will take 40 downward-looking satellites. By year-end 2025 there will be 126 Link-16 satellites in orbit for intercommunication, using Tranche 1 Tracking capabilities. Tranche 2 Tracking capability will start in 2026. Tranche 1 satellites were solicited for bid in 2021, expecting first launch in September 2024, and monthly launches thereafter. Tranche 1 totals more than 150 satellites: 126 in Tranche 1 Transport Layer; 35 in Tranche 1 Tracking Layer; 12 in

5852-646: Was released in the 2nd week of April. The Alpha RFP was released in June 2023 and Gamma is scheduled for early 2024. The Alpha satellites are similar to those in the Tranche 1 Transport Layer; the Beta satellites will have UHF and tactical communications payloads; the Gamma satellites will carry advanced waveform payloads. York Space Systems will build 62 satellites for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer. In 2023 contracts for 72 satellites were awarded to Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin (for 36 Beta satellites apiece). In 2024

5929-536: Was stripped from them in the Defense Reorganization Act of 1958 ), and instead, Military Departments are tasked solely with "the training, provision of equipment, and administration of troops." A unified combatant command is a military command composed of personnel/equipment from at least two Military Departments, which has a broad/continuing mission. These military departments are responsible for equipping and training troops to fight, while

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