While the Department of Defense’s (DoD) space programs and policies are at something of a crossroads, plenty of government and industry leaders have been thinking deeply on what to do next.
U.S. Air Force Colonel Sidney Conner said: “Consistent with some of the comments that you’ve heard recently from some of our senior [military] leaders, we’re moving forward toward a normalization of space as a war-fighting domain. That means thinking differently about how we acquire our systems.”
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Cyrus Dhalla, vice president of communications at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, offered a multi-pronged vision: leverage existing technologies to increase affordability, move to an architectural modernization that allows for “a consistent, constant acquisition structure where we’re constantly building satellites,” and increase overall interoperability.
John Monahan, senior vice president of satellite products at Kratos Defense, stressed: “Go commercial. You don’t need a unique way of satisfying your requirements, per se. It’s good enough to go commercial, you get it across effectively, you get it quickly. Buy commercial, live with what you’re going to produce.” He emphasized that the approach allows for getting things “more quickly and more cost-effective” and supports a rapid 18-24 month technology innovation cycle.
Jeffrey Trauberman, vice president at Boeing Satellite Systems International, suggested looking at other domains to find analogies: “There’s maybe a menu of choices you can look at to solve these problems … threats, mitigation strategies, architectures.” VS
