By Sandra Erwin

Welcome to this week's edition of SpaceNews' Military Space, your source for the latest developments at the intersection of space and national security. In this week's edition: From GPS-guided bombs to missile warning systems, space capabilities underpinned Operation Midnight Hammer

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Satellites’ key role in U.S. airstrikes Iranian nuclear sites

The U.S. Space Force has been quiet about what role it played in Operation Midnight Hammer, the high-stakes air campaign that targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend. But the coordinated U.S. strikes on Iranian sites at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan underscored the role of satellites in modern combat.

The operation involved more than 125 aircraft, including B-2 stealth bombers, fighters, tankers and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. Behind that airpower was a space-based backbone facilitating navigation, targeting, secure communications and early warning.

• Pre-strike satellite imagery, likely collected by government and commercial systems, gave U.S. planners the overhead intelligence needed to identify hardened facilities and develop precision strike packages. During the mission, satellite communications systems enabled near real-time coordination between aircrews, command centers and ISR platforms — a necessity during 18-hour B-2 sorties that required radio silence and stealth over hostile territory.

• Meanwhile, GPS satellites, maintained by the Space Force, were critical to guiding air-launched munitions and Tomahawk missiles fired from U.S. Navy ships, helping ensure that long-range weapons stayed on target in a potentially GPS-contested environment. U.S. officials have long worried about Iran’s electronic warfare capabilities, but there’s no public indication those efforts interfered with the weekend strike.

• After the bombs hit, space-based sensors remained on watch. Overhead systems capable of detecting infrared signatures offered missile warning coverage, including for the retaliatory strikes Iran launched Monday on U.S. military sites in Qatar. There were no reported casualties.

• Imaging satellites also delivered post-strike damage assessments, capturing cratered buildings and blackened terrain at nuclear-related sites.

The Space Force in coordination with other agencies also likely provided support to electronic warfare and cyber operations, using satellite-linked tools to disrupt or blind enemy air defenses in the minutes before the first strikes.

More broadly, Operation Midnight Hammer showcased multi-domain operations, in which space, air, cyber and land assets are tightly integrated into a single mission thread.

Defense budget hangs in balance as Trump's bill faces Senate hurdle

The U.S. Space Force could see its budget climb if President Trump's $150 billion defense reconciliation package passes Congress, but industry experts warn there's no backup plan if the legislation fails to clear the Senate.

The fate of the "Reconciliation Bill" remains unclear as Congress races toward a July 4 deadline. The Republican-backed legislative package, which uses budget reconciliation to bypass the Senate filibuster, contains a massive $150 billion allocation for the Defense Department that could prove consequential for the Space Force.

"Space Force has the potential to be a big winner" if the bill passes, according to Mike Tierney, chief of legislative affairs at the National Security Space Association, a nonprofit industry group. He spoke about this issue Friday during a space budget forum hosted by NSSA.

Some of the new money for the Space Force would come from the $25 billion the bill includes for the Golden Dome missile defense initiative, a space-based system that relies heavily on space capabilities. The program aims to modernize U.S. missile defense with advanced technologies, including space-based sensors and interceptors.

Reconciliation gambit

The legislation, often referred to as the "One Big, Beautiful Bill," represents the core of Trump's fiscal and defense agenda. A $150 billion boost in defense spending would push total U.S. military funding above the $1 trillion mark for the first time.

The infusion is designed to modernize the military, expand shipbuilding, invest in unmanned technologies and ramp up munitions and nuclear deterrence capabilities.

The bill faces significant pushback, primarily for making cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps. Critics argue the legislation functions as a "slush fund" for the Pentagon, creating uncertainty about its passage.

"There are a lot of other moving pieces associated with that bill that make it even more difficult to pass ... So there is no guarantee that reconciliation will actually be signed into law," Tierney said.

No alternative strategy

Perhaps most concerning for defense advocates is the apparent absence of contingency planning. If the reconciliation bill fails, it does not appear the administration has developed alternative approaches to increase defense spending, Tierney warned.

"They're all on Plan A," he said, noting that the administration and Republican lawmakers "have expended so much political capital to get this $150 billion through the wickets."

Should the legislation fail, Tierney guessed that defense spending supporters would need to pursue either a supplemental appropriation or compel the White House to amend the 2026 base budget request to reflect higher spending levels. "That is a whole can of worms," Tierney said.

SpaceX Transporter-14: One rocket, many missions

SpaceX’s rideshare launches for small satellites have quietly become the backbone of the new space economy — and a linchpin for national security and government space efforts. National security agencies are increasingly embracing this model, booking rides for rapid deployment of experimental and operational satellites.

The U.S. Space Force, National Reconnaissance Office and Space Development Agency are now regular customers, drawn by the speed, cost efficiency and flexibility of rideshare missions.

On Monday, SpaceX launched its 14th rideshare, Transporter-14, from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Falcon 9 carried 70 payloads, including microsatellites, cubesats, reentry capsules — and even a memorial capsule containing cremated remains and DNA samples.

The mission marked the largest single deployment to date for Exolaunch, a German launch services provider, which handled 45 satellites from 25 international customers.

• Among the military payloads was the Dragoon satellite, built by York Space Systems for the U.S. Space Development Agency. Dragoon is the first of a planned dozen in the agency’s Tranche 1 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T1DES), designed to test secure communications and missile-tracking capabilities for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

• Also on board: Norway’s ARVAKER II and III satellites from Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace, part of the country’s new N3X maritime surveillance constellation, and Bifrost, an Earth observation satellite backed by the Danish and Swedish defense ministries to enhance Arctic surveillance. Finland’s radar imaging satellite operator Iceye launched six synthetic aperture radar satellites, including the first one for the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

• On the commercial side, Varda Space Industries launched its fourth spacecraft, W-4, designed to manufacture pharmaceuticals in orbit and return them to Earth using a reentry capsule. W-4 marks the company’s first fully in-house built spacecraft. Another operator of reentry vehicles, The Exploration Company, tested a reentry capsule but lost the spacecraft before it splashed down.

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