United States Air Force

The United States Air Force (USAF) is a branch of the US military within the Department of the Air Force, headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. In the context of Earth observation, the USAF served as the programme manager and satellite operator for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) from its origins in the 1960s through the establishment of the US Space Force (USSF) in December 2019, at which point DMSP programme management transferred to the USSF.^[1] DMSP provides global cloud cover and weather data to US military and civil users through satellites carrying the Operational Linescan System (OLS), which delivers visible and thermal infrared imagery at a 3,000 km swath, and the SSM/I and SSM/IS passive microwave instruments, which support atmospheric and surface retrievals.^[2] On-orbit operations for DMSP satellites are conducted by NOAA from Suitland, Maryland; the NOAA NCEI maintains the data archive.^[2] As of the last publicly available status information, DMSP satellites F-16, F-17, and F-18 remained on orbit.^[1] DMSP data serves strategic and tactical weather prediction for US military operations and is also available to civil users through NOAA NCEI.^[2]