The Hilton McLean Tysons Corner will fill with Pentagon brass, Space Force officials and defense industry executives on Thursday, July 30, when the Potomac Officers Club holds its 2026 Air and Space Summit at 7920 Jones Branch Drive.

NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson and Air Force Acting Assistant Secretary for Space Acquisition and Integration Tom Ainsworth are both scheduled to deliver keynotes, according to GovCon Wire. Other confirmed speakers include G.P. Sandhoo, director of the Space Development Agency, and Didi Kuo, chief architect of the Geospatial Intelligence Systems Acquisition Directorate at the National Reconnaissance Office.

The full-day conference runs 7 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. and covers commercial space relay systems, space optical networks, network modernization and artificial intelligence applications in aerospace, according to the Potomac Officers Club's event page. Lockheed Martin is listed as a sponsor.

One panel, "Commercial Space Relay: Achieving Speed to Mission," features Greg Heckler, NASA's deputy program manager for capability development in the Space Communications and Navigation program. In a podcast interview reported by GovCon Wire on July 7, Heckler called the current moment "the platinum era of satellite communications," noting that U.S. companies are making major investments across low, medium, and geosynchronous Earth orbit systems.

The summit arrives amid a surge in federal space spending. The Department of Defense proposed a $71.1 billion budget for the Space Force in fiscal year 2027, a 124 percent increase from fiscal 2026, according to Payload Space. Golden Dome, the administration's missile defense architecture, accounts for $17.5 billion in the fiscal 2027 budget request, according to Washington Technology.

Those dollars are already flowing into contracts. The Space Development Agency awarded Sierra Space $798 million in July to build 18 missile-tracking satellites for the Golden Dome program's Accelerated Missile Defense Tranche 3 layer. Separately, the Department of Defense increased its ceiling for national security space launch contracts by $11.4 billion, more than tripling the pool from $5.6 billion to $17 billion.

The event is open to registrants through the Potomac Officers Club, part of the Executive Mosaic media and events network. Registration details are available at potomacofficersclub.com.