Tactical space, tactical launch, responsive space, call it what you will, there's been a three-decade debate over how best to get American military payloads into space and put them to work quickly - or whether such a capability even matters.
The Air Force, which had a responsive space capability of its own in the early 60s (the Blue Scout program) never knew what to do with this topic.
The service's main medium/heavy launch vehicle series of this century, the EELVs, were supposed to have a "rapid" capability but took over a year from start to finish of a "launch campaign." Congress pushed the Operationally Responsive Space program in the early 2000s, and it launched several satellites, but it was dismissed at the upper levels (granted, small satellites were not as capable as they are today) as not very important, and was eventually dismantled.
Congress has taken a new interest, boosted by the achievements of the Space Development Agency and the increasing capability of very small microsatellites, in having the Space Force fly more demonstration missions and eventually create a budget line item. Check out the latest news.
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