Top Stories

Air Force Selects General Atomics and Anduril to Build CCA Drone Wingmen

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Collaborative Combat Aircraft contracts to General Atomics and Anduril. These are the first CCA airframes selected to fly as autonomous wingmen alongside crewed fighters. The autonomy system will be built by a separate team: Anduril, Shield AI, and Collins Aerospace.

This splits hardware and software development across multiple vendors — a deliberate architecture choice that keeps the autonomy layer competitively sourced.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

SpaceX Launches First Block 2 BlueBird Satellites for AST SpaceMobile

SpaceX launched three Block 2 BlueBird satellites for AST SpaceMobile from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, lifting off at 2:39 a.m. EDT on June 16. This is AST’s third SpaceX launch and the first to carry the upgraded Block 2 variant of the BlueBird platform.

AST SpaceMobile is building a direct-to-device broadband constellation in LEO. As these satellites reach operational orbit, they’ll join an increasingly dense commercial LEO environment worth monitoring for conjunction activity.

Read the full story: Spaceflight Now

Look Up and Skynopy Partner on Automated LEO Collision Avoidance

French startups Look Up and Skynopy announced a partnership on June 17 to automate collision avoidance in low Earth orbit. Look Up will use Skynopy’s ground station network to feed its space surveillance service, reducing response time when conjunction alerts require maneuver decisions.

Automated collision avoidance is increasingly relevant as LEO object counts climb. Services like this sit directly upstream of the tracking data that feeds tools like KeepTrack.

Read the full story: SpaceNews

Aselsan Wins $900M Contract to Build Turkey’s Steel Dome Air Defense System

Turkish defense electronics firm Aselsan secured a $900 million contract to develop Steel Dome, Turkey’s national layered air defense architecture. The system — known locally as Celik Kubbe — is modeled on concepts similar to Israel’s multilayer defense network and the U.S. Golden Dome initiative.

Space-based sensors and satellite communications are core enablers of modern layered air defense. Turkey’s investment in this infrastructure has direct implications for regional ISR and space-based early warning requirements.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Pentagon Renames INDOPACOM Back to Pacific Command

The Pentagon has reverted the command’s name from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command back to U.S. Pacific Command. The change follows several other Defense Department renamings under Secretary Pete Hegseth.

PACOM’s area of responsibility covers the Pacific theater, where space domain awareness, satellite communications, and missile warning assets are heavily concentrated. The renaming is administrative, but the command’s role in space-enabled operations is unchanged.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

101st Airborne Brigade Executes Robotic Combined Arms Breach at JRTC

The 3rd Mobile Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division completed a robotic combined arms breach during a Joint Readiness Training Center rotation. The brigade commander confirmed the operation used autonomous ground systems to lead the breach in place of soldiers.

It’s an early operational proof point for robot-forward tactics. As unmanned ground and air systems proliferate, the satellite communications and GPS infrastructure supporting their navigation becomes a higher-priority target and a more critical tracking concern.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

NATO Secretary General Pushes Allies on Defense Spending, Dismisses US Withdrawal Talk

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated the U.S. is not pulling back from its alliance commitments. He also pressed member nations to make sustained increases to defense investment and strengthen industrial production capacity.

Allied defense spending drives procurement of space-based ISR, communications satellites, and missile warning systems — all of which generate new objects tracked in KeepTrack’s catalog as launches increase.

Read the full story: Breaking Defense

Satellite of the Day

SNAP-3 JIMI

SNAP-3 JIMI is a 3U CubeSat developed by DUCOMM and operated by the Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) as part of the U.S. Army’s Nanosatellite Program. Launched on October 8, 2015, aboard an Atlas V 401 from Air Force Western Test Range, this tiny spacecraft weighs just 5.3 kilograms but packs impressive capability into its compact box-shaped frame with eight deployable solar panels. The mission focuses on technology demonstration, testing concepts and components in the demanding space environment.

Despite its modest size, SNAP-3 JIMI represents an important milestone in rapid, affordable space access—launching advanced payloads on the military’s own schedule without reliance on commercial rideshare programs. The satellite’s four solar arrays and battery system keep it powered in its operational orbit, making it a valuable platform for validating new technologies that could eventually fly on larger military and defense systems. For satellite trackers, SNAP-3 JIMI remains an active asset and a reminder of how CubeSats have democratized space operations for the defense sector.

Track this satellite in real-time: Track SNAP-3 JIMI

Upcoming Space Launches

June 18

• Isar Aerospace Spectrum: Onward and Upward
  • From Orbital Launch Pad, Andøya Spaceport (20:00 UTC) Spectrum’s second test flight, carrying six payloads including CyBEEsat (TU Berlin), TriSat-S (University of Maribor), Platform 6 (EnduroSat), FramSat-1 (NTNU), SpaceTeamSat1 (TU Wien Space Team), and a “Let it Go” experiment from Dcubed, with payload integration managed by Exolaunch. Previously delayed from January 21 due to a pressurization valve issue. Watch Live Launch Preview

June 19

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: NROL-179
  • From Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (08:40 UTC) A classified National Reconnaissance Office mission believed to carry Starshield satellites — a government-optimized variant of Starlink — marking the 14th launch supporting the NRO’s proliferated architecture constellation and the third such mission in 2026. The Falcon 9 first stage booster B1103, flying for the third time, will return to Landing Zone 4 approximately eight minutes after liftoff. Watch Live

June 21

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Project Starfall Demonstration Mission

  • From Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, USA (10:43 UTC) A demonstration mission for SpaceX’s new Starfall re-entry vehicle — a cylindrical capsule approximately 0.75 m tall with a 3.1 m diameter, weighing ~2,100 kg and capable of carrying up to 1,000 kg of payload. SpaceX has requested authorization for two Starfall re-entries in the Pacific Ocean, though it remains unclear whether two spacecraft will fly on this mission.

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Starlink Group 17-28

  • From Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (14:00 UTC) A batch of 24 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. Booster B1063 will land on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean on its 33rd flight. Watch Live

June 23

• China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Long March 7A: Unknown Payload
  • From Launch Pad 201, Wenchang Space Launch Site, People’s Republic of China (02:02 UTC) Payload details have not been disclosed.

June 25

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Starlink Group 17-45
  • From Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (02:48 UTC) A batch of 24 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. Watch Live

June 27

• Northrop Grumman Space Systems Pegasus XL: Swift Boost Mission
  • Air launch from Kwajalein Atoll (09:00 UTC) Contracted by NASA under the Small Business Innovation Research Phase 3 contract, Katalyst Space Technologies’ LINK servicing spacecraft will rendezvous and attach to NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to re-boost its orbit. The mission aims to demonstrate on-orbit servicing capabilities while extending the Swift Observatory’s science lifetime in gamma ray astronomy.

June 30

• Rocket Lab Electron: Ten Owl Of Ten (StriX Launch 10) (To Be Determined)

  • From Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand (TBD) A Synspective StriX synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite to sun-synchronous orbit.

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5: Globalstar 2-R Mission 1 (x 9) (To Be Determined)

  • From Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, USA (TBD) First of two launches replenishing Globalstar’s HIBLEO-4 satellite fleet with nine spacecraft to low Earth orbit. Booster B1090, flying for the 12th time, will target a landing on drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Watch Live Launch Preview

• Rocket Lab Electron: The Grain Goddess Provides (iQPS Launch 7) (To Be Determined)

  • From Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand (TBD) A synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS to low Earth orbit.

Schedule Changes

• New Launches Added: Two launches have been added to the manifest — SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 carrying Starlink Group 17-45 (targeted for June 25 at 02:48 UTC) and Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL Swift Boost Mission (targeted for June 27 at 09:00 UTC), both with a status of Go for Launch.
• Launch Successful (removed from calendar): The Ariane 64 Block 2 | Amazon Leo (LE-03) mission has been confirmed as a launch success and has been removed from the upcoming launches list.
• Status Downgraded to To Be Determined: The Rocket Lab Electron | Ten Owl Of Ten (StriX Launch 10) has slipped from Go for Launch to To Be Determined. Additionally, the SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 | Globalstar 2-R Mission 1 (x 9) has moved from To Be Confirmed to To Be Determined.
• Status Upgraded to Go for Launch: The Long March 7A | Unknown Payload mission has been elevated from To Be Confirmed to Go for Launch, with a window opening June 23 at 02:02 UTC.

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