Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjVG4Yz5vQ4
18 May 2022
Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, Space Systems Command
Q&A
Q-How has SSC evolved from SMC? What does your future look like and what are your priorities?
We stood up SSC because we needed to make a pivot in the way we acquire our systems. We needed to make a pivot to get after unity of effort. We also needed to get after systems of systems integration. It was clear in order to get after the threat we needed to do so in a very integrated manner. When we stood up SSC we spent a lot of time trying to understand what the best of breed was and how everyone does business across the organization. SSC is very flat and kind of mimics how NRO did their power structure. By embracing middle tier AQ, PEOs are able to engage rapidly.
With the increasing threat, no org can go at it alone. We have to embrace our partnerships… That will require a different type of skill set than we typically do in AQ. I’m going to need a workforce that understands commercial services.
Priorities will be maintaining unity of effort, embracing our allies… We’re trying to break down stovepipes and not recreate capabilities. We’re trying to embrace commercial and academic partners.
Q- How are you planning to get this workforce?
There is an explosion of renewed interest in space… We’re trying to mentor students. We’re building university partnerships. We need the universities to help us solve some of our problems. We’re trying to bring students in as interns. We are across 16 locations globally. That allows us to bring in a lot more talent. There’s an enormous amount of wealth of knowledge they can bring in.
Q- Are there any AQ process changes you’d like us to know?
There are significant process changes… Within Dept. of AF and the help of the Hill, we have Frank Calvelli. Now you have him purely focused on space AQ. That enables us to go a lot faster in space. We’re getting faster here. We stood up Space AQ Council that has interagency advisors and they’re driving decisions. You see this in missile warning and missile tracking. We have Program Integration Council with SSC, MDA, SDA, Space RCO, NRO… We also brought in SWAC, SpOC, Lt. Gen. Shaw, international affairs, labs… We’re really trying to get unity of effort and speak with one voice….
Q- How does SSC work with space components in other services?
Under the requirements umbrella we’re still under JROC. They still set and validate requirements. Gen. Liquori now validates requirements for space. Then we figure out how to best deliver. We’re going to add a space component to each combatant command and we’re going to put an AQ expert in each combatant command….
Q- [SWAC] They are doing some pretty amazing work. We are flying future concepts against a threat realistic environment. We can also run analysis to optimize force design. Andrew Cox has some high-powered analysts and tools. We’re supporting him in this with the Program Integration Council. Andrew Cox is doing a physics-based model. It’s informed by the warfighter to make sure it’s relevant, it’s informed by what commercial and allies can do, and it’s informed by all the PEOs that sit in there.
Q- How is SSC working to stay in touch with everything industry is doing?
Staying in touch with everything is a challenge. Innovation is outpacing demand signal from government. How do I embrace that innovation and capitalize on it? Andrew Cox hosts industry days. He took all the models they developed in SWAC and showed them to industry. We’re trying to embrace them from that direction. From SSC perspective, we are going to exploit what we can first, buy what we can, build what we must. Our Commercial Services Office really gets at the buy. We also stood up SSC Front Door. We stood up Sherpas and they are going to guide and help companies and startups navigate the opportunities and the pathways. All of the different opportunities to embrace innovation, they’re under the umbrella of the Front Door. We are also doing monthly industry engagements. Tomorrow we’re holding a reverse tactical ISR industry day where industry is going to tell us what they can provide. Next month is SDA, and it keeps going every month after that.
There’s an enormous amount of effort out there. How do I build the business model to help commercial easily engage? That working business model will be the model where we do the back and forth and not have to do a long contracting process. We are also trying to make sure we have funding mechanisms built in.
Q- Have you ever reached out to companies that have ever said no thank you?
It’s going to start with the Sherpas. They are going to teach industry how to do business with the government. This is where you explore creative contract mechanisms. We’re also working with venture capitalists. Another area, SDA. Derek is engaging industry across the board to bring their capability in immediately.
Q- How do you make trades between owning the capability and buying as a service?
We have to really understand how it will be used in times of conflict and how we can depend on it to be there. If we aren’t sure that it will be there, then I probably need to own it. If industry can promise that that capability will be there in time of conflict, then we can probably buy it as service. It’s a spectrum of decisions we go through that comes down to how we’ll use it in times of crisis.
Q- What lessons have shaped how you’re leading SSC?
If you go back to the 50s and 60s, because of the criticality of space, we took very little risk along the way. Also, because it costs so much…. Throughout my career I’ve been thinking that we need to push the authorities down and take more risks. We have pushed authorities down as low as we possibly can. As I lead up, my advocacy is always don’t pull the authorities up, push them down. Then I have to make sure my workforce is enabled.
Q- Smart risks in space programs
We kept putting more and more capability onto a single satellite. That resulted in satellites that were built for a benign environment. Cost of launch is down. The amount of tech we can put on a small satellite is high. This all allows me to take more risks. I can stomach one or two failures and still do the job….There are numerous areas where we can take more risks along the way.
Q- [Decision to restart MUOS production]
That was a requirements decision that I wasn’t a part of. As we’ve done our analysis, the one thing that we’ve always needed is more com. One of the decisions they made was to extend it… Commercial SATCOM Office, they are doing an enormous amount of business with commercial. I think you’ll continue to see that increase going forward.
Q- How do you coordinate with allies?
It has changed dramatically over the last two years. Adversaries have proven the ability and intent do deny us our space capabilities and that has brought in international dialog. SSC, we stood up the International Affairs Office…. We are seeing that as NATO allies try to meet 2% of GDP, they are pushing it more towards space. That is allowing us to make some pivots in dialog…. I have international officers that work in our office. That has never happened before. We are sending some of our people overseas to places like Australia. This will all happen more and more.
Q- Are you seeing operators trying to ensure the same?
Absolutely. We have international officers. We have a combined operations floor. We are seeing across the board engagement with allies.
Q- Other areas to improve coordination?
We are spending a lot of time in the policy realm. Things like ITAR, working on getting a combined C2 system…. A lot of those are policy driven that take time to get through. I’d like to see them go a little bit faster.
Q- Threats you’re most worried about in the next five years?
I’m worried about all of them. The one that keeps me up at night is recklessness. What keeps me up is the unsafe, unprofessional environment. We’re seeing it across robots in space, ASAT tests, we’re seeing it across the spectrum.
Q- What are you doing to manage debris?
Every launch we go through an analysis of how much debris we’ll leave behind and it’s a pretty tight threshold so if we exceed it we have to go through more approvals. We are also engaging with industry and working on how to remove some of the debris. We’re supporting the policy side of the house and are having international discussions.
Q- Are there any policy solutions you can see for safety in space?
I see a lot of energy across the board trying to get after this. Everything from STM, debris mitigation, norms of behavior.
Q- Threats and AQ priorities
One reason we stood up SSC was to guarantee space will be there in time of conflict. We do this through resiliency. Priorities going forward, it goes back to the business model of exploiting what we have, buying what we can, building what we must. We’re spending a lot of time on how we can exploit everything we already have up there. We’re also talking with industry and what they can bring to the table. Build what we must, these are the capabilities that don’t exist today and that we’ll need in the future. We are making sure that systems can survive a threat and natural environment.
Q- What should we be looking at? What do you want to see come out of the think tank community?
There’s an enormous amount of talent out there. We as a society, we are control based…. We have the people, the most innovative community, and we have amazing partnerships. From think tank perspective, how do you continue to bring in that talent?
Closing Comments:
-Our way of life and the life of our children’s children, it’s based on what we can do in space. We have not only delivered the most capable systems, but we’ve built the most capable SF. Our adversaries are taking note. You should be extremely proud.
-I’d also like to say thank you to the families that support us.
(end)
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