A Space X Falcon 9 rocket launches from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, Feb. 14, 2024. (US Space Force photo by Airman 1st Class Spencer Contreras)
WASHINGTON ― A new Department of the Air Force study shows that the Space Force likely will require a new launch facility to get beyond the current crunch at at Vandenberg SFB in California and Cape Canaveral in Florida, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said today.
“We’ve just finished up a study, and that’s working its way through the process to come down to the Hill. At a high level, what it says is we probably need another site that’s capable of heavy and super heavy launch capability,” he told the House Armed Services Committee (HASC).
“It still shocks me a little bit that just launch bases, launch infrastructure seems to be the limitation right now on the nation’s ability to … at least for the next foreseeable future, grow our commercial launch infrastructure, which supports again both commercial and national [security launch.]”
The Space Force last July sounded the alarm that the rapid rise in the number of launches, both for national security and for commercial customers, was threatening to overwhelm its two current launch ranges.
