“We’ve been kicking around this idea that there needs to be a milestone past D; a milestone E where the program is proving elderly and we’re having to do Herculean tasks to keep airplanes flying that should have been retired long ago,” says Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper.

Missing in the national security space conversation, says Aerospace Corporation’s Russ Rumbaugh, is how space operations can and should fit with diplomacy and foreign policy. Instead, he said, the debate is solely about “how do I win the war I see.” 

“Given the DoD’s poor job of presenting how we would move people and what criteria would be used, the congressional pushback is expected,” says one Space Force proponent.

“If you’re looking for an area to partner with us, I highly recommend you focus on Artificial Intelligence, Automation and Augmentation — what we call AAA,” Vice Adm. Bob Sharp the industry audience at GEOINT 2019 in San Antonio today.

Large networks of small, cheap satellites derived from commercial technology would be harder for China or Russia to kill than a handful of expensive, exquisite military-unique birds. But who gets to build it?

As commercial activities such as mining expand from Earth to the Moon, there will be “a need for the equivalent to a Navy or Air Force” to protect that region of space, says SDA chief Fred Kennedy.

“Launching hundreds of cheap satellites each year as a substitute” for current milspace systems “will result in failure on America’s worst day if we relay on them alone,” Wilson says.

We’ve already got SMC and the NRO. What the heck will a Space Development Agency do that’s different, and why.

Of DoD’s proposed reforms, the biggest thing not included in the NDAA is the Space Development Agency, which would appear to strike a blow at the heart of DoD space acquisition: the Air Force-run Space and Missile Systems Center. SMC has long been criticized for its slow pace, bureaucratic stovepipes, and opacity, but praised for its technical brilliance.

SPACE SYMPOSIUM: The head of Air Force Space Command, Gen. Jay Raymond, unveiled major changes here to how the Air Force manages space, including creation of a new position on the Air Staff similar to the A-10, who oversees nuclear issues. “A new three-star deputy chief of staff for space, known as the ‘A-11,’ will… Keep reading →