U.S. Air Force Looks To Bridge Sounding Rocket Contract Vehicles

摘要

The U.S. Air Force is revamping its sounding rocket program and hopes to award multiple contracts in late 2016 to providers that could also launch small satellites into low Earth orbit, according to Defense Department acquisition documents. As a result, the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles, which procures space hardware and software, said Oct. 1 it would need an 18-month extension to its current sounding rocket ordering program. The extension is needed to keep several missions and tests on schedule until the new contracting vehicle, known as the Small Rocket Program or SRP-4, is ready. The Air Force currently has two providers under the current contract, called SRP-3: two divisions of Orbital ATK of Dulles, Virginia, and Space Vector Corp. of Chatsworth, California.