SpaceX Falcon 9 Set to Launch U.S. Space Force R-4 Classified Satellite Batch

Overview

• The Falcon 9 is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg at 4:48 p.m. PST Friday, carrying 23 satellites and planning to return first stage booster B1095 to the droneship Of Course I Still Love You.
• The mission is listed as USSF-432 and publicly identified as R-4, the fourth in a repeatable series that began in August with similarly designated launches.
• Public orbital catalog entries show each R launch has placed 23 spacecraft into orbit, a pattern analysts use to infer the program’s tempo and size.
• Trackers and analysts, including Jonathan McDowell, say the satellites are likely built on SpaceX’s Starshield bus for the Space Force’s Space Based Sensing and Targeting work, though the service has given no official details.
• The flight was pushed from an original Nov. 1 date because of Starlink pacing and later undisclosed reasons, a delay that highlights rapid West Coast launch cadence, routine booster reuse, and limited government transparency about the program.