WASHINGTON — Over the past year, the U.S. Air and Space Forces have accelerated a multi-layered research initiative aimed at realizing a concept that sounds plucked from science fiction: the ability to rapidly deliver cargo to strategic locations worldwide by routing it through space.
While the Pentagon initially focused on employing large, reusable rockets for transporting goods, the military has increasingly shifted its attention toward smaller reentry capsules as a more promising avenue.
The joint effort to harness commercial capabilities for point-to-point delivery via orbit is inherently complex, as it spans multiple programs funded through different budget streams — some jointly supported and others financed through service-specific appropriations.
The centerpiece of this enterprise is the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) high-priority Rocket Cargo Vanguard program, which launched in June 2021 with the goal of sending rockets carrying up to 30 tons of supplies from the United States into orbit and back down to remote bases and forward battlefields.
That program is now being scaled back: the Air Force eliminated funding for it in its fiscal 2026 budget, and the Space Force allocated only a few million dollars for Rocket Cargo in FY26 and FY27. However, the successor programs born from Rocket Cargo continue to gain momentum.
An AFRL spokesperson cited several compelling advantages driving the pivot toward reentry capsules, including:
- the logistical ease of rapidly offloading cargo at the delivery site,
- the capacity to reach a wider variety of austere environments and terrain types,
- the ability to deploy multiple reentry capsules on a single launch, enabling simultaneous deliveries to several locations, and
- near-term potential for significant vendor diversity across both reentry capsule systems and launch providers.
Three primary programs are currently pursuing orbital cargo delivery, each with distinct technical objectives and funding profiles. Here is what to know.
Payload Delivery System (P2D)
The development of reentry capsules is now being carried out under an AFRL initiative called the Payload Delivery System (PDS), which is jointly funded by the Air and Space Forces.
“Given the multi-disciplinary nature of these challenges, which span both Air and Space capabilities, the PDS project is designed to leverage expertise and resources across both services. The U.S. Space Force serves as the lead service, but the technology challenges are fundamentally joint,” the spokesperson explained. “One example is the end-to-end cargo transport environment, encompassing the space phase, reentry, and final delivery at an austere site — which could involve either land or sea.”
The two services began jointly funding PDS this year, with the Air FY26 budget requesting $30.6 million and the Space Force contributing $21.2 million. For FY27, the Air Force has requested $32.3 million, while the Space Force has sought $16.5 million.
Under PDS, AFRL is collaborating with a range of commercial partners — both established and newly entering the field — to identify a solution that balances low cost with high cargo capacity.
Reentry capsules are not a novel concept: NASA has relied on them for years to recover astronauts and experiments, though such vehicles are exceptionally large and expensive.
More recently, companies such as Varda Space Industries and Inversion Space have begun demonstrating smaller reentry vehicles designed for commercial applications, including growing pharmaceuticals and manufacturing microchips in space before returning them to Earth.
According to market tracker Factories in Space, approximately 65 companies worldwide were engaged in some stage of development on cargo reentry vehicles as of last September. Among them are major players such as SpaceX, which launched its first Starfall pod demonstration on June 23, and Blue Origin, which has not yet conducted a launch.
“Under both the Rocket Cargo Vanguard and the Payload Delivery System project, we are actively engaging industry to explore the potential trade-space for large, low-cost reentry capsules better suited to rapid global mobility. To date, we have engaged with numerous potential commercial vendors, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Sierra Space, Varda, Inversion Space, Outpost Space, and a number of other small businesses,” the AFRL spokesperson said.
“Ultimately, our goal is to establish a broad vendor base offering low-cost reentry solutions with sufficient cargo capacity and delivery capability to austere sites for rapid global mobility,” the spokesperson added.
Point-to-Point Delivery (P2D)
The Space Force’s Servicing, Mobility, and Logistics (SML) program, managed by System Delta 80, oversees the Point-to-Point Delivery (P2D) program as one of its two core mission areas. P2D targets “orbital supply prepositioning and operational downmass, as well as responsive sub-orbital and orbital point-to-point delivery operations,” according to service budget documents.
“The near-term focus of P2D will leverage technology developed through both commercial independent research and development (IRAD) and AFRL’s Rocket Cargo Vanguard program to study and develop P2D reference missions,” the budget documents state. (A reference mission is a concept study assessing the feasibility of a technology or capability.)
The Space Force launched P2D in FY25 with $3.9 million, requested $19.3 million for FY26, and sought $9.7 million for FY27 — with comparable annual funding projected through FY31.
Rocket Experimentation For Global Agile Logistics (REGAL)
Closely tied to the P2D program is an AFRL Other Transaction Authority contract vehicle known as Rocket Experimentation for Global Agile Logistics (REGAL), first issued in 2021 with updated terms of reference in 2024.
Under REGAL, no funds are provided for the development of commercial rockets. Instead, the program focuses on funding P2D-related technology and demonstration efforts. Additionally, REGAL includes no-cost agreements, making the overall value of ongoing work difficult to quantify.
Sierra Space announced an undisclosed REGAL contract in October 2024, and Rocket Lab revealed a similar REGAL award in May 2025.
AFRL awarded Blue Origin $1.3 million and Anduril $1 million under REGAL in September 2025. In July, the laboratory added $11.7 million to Blue Origin’s contract, bringing the total to $13 million.
