U.S. Air Force Setting Up Office for Buying Near Space Vehicles

摘要

The U.S. Air Force intends to establish by 2008 a program office for buying high-altitude atmospheric vehicles that provide satellite-type services, according to service officials. One such vehicle that could be pressed into the field quickly is a balloon-mounted communications relay that could dramatically expand the range of radios used by ground forces, said Maj. Steven Staats, deputy chief of demonstration initiatives at Air Force Space Command's Space Battlelab at Schriever Air Force Base here. A prototype of that vehicle, dubbed Combat SkySat, was demonstrated March 14-17 near Phoenix, he said.