Date: 2/23/23
Speaker: Gen. David Thompson, Vice Chief of Space Operations, USSF
Quote: [Increasingly armed forces need flow of information and we’re going to do it through meshed networks. Our SDA is pursuing a national military capability. It’ll be integrated with commercial.]
Article/Events: National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group Meeting February 2023
Date: 2/22/23
Speaker: Matthew Jacobs, Digital Transformation Executive, GTM Industry Lead, Public Sector, Salesforce
Quote: [We are seeing the great things SSC is doing. They’re really leaning forward. One thing we’re trying to ensure is transparency. To leap over the Valley of Death it’s important we get transparency early and often…]
Article/Events: GovExec and Salesforce New Approaches to AQ Modernization for Mission Success
Date: 2/22/23
Speaker: Col. Richard Kniseley II, Chief of the Enterprise Requirements & Architecture Division, Space Systems Integration Office, SSC, USSF
Quotes:
[Right now SSC procures commercial launch services. That will not change and you’ll see us expand into other mission areas. SDA capabilities and Joint Commercial Office, we’re using this capability right now and we’re getting comfortable with the technology. We’re going to be very dependent on our partners and allies. I think that’s one of the biggest things. You’ll see a change of attitude. Calvelli has his tenets and one of the biggest ones is embracing partnerships. Days of the 10-year AQ build are gone. We need to go faster.]
[It’s imperative on us that we integrate and for us to deliver resilient and quick, innovative capabilities that can be counted on in times of conflict.]
[At SSC we’re exploiting what we have, buying what we can, building only what we must. On building, a lot of these systems there isn’t really a commercial market. Things like MW/MT. This is a no fail mission. Where we’re transitioning, we’re really tapping into commercial capabilities that are out there. Right now the commercial industry is booming… It’s important for us to get after the fight and tap into capabilities and build resiliency and redundancy. We’re doing this in order to be agile and responsive to the warfighter. We also need to integrate so operators can use these capabilities daily. Right now, to get after the fight, our most important advantage we have is the partnership with international allies and commercial.]
[SSC just looked at a space reserve model…Biggest compliment I got from industry, we were open and honest and we wanted to hear industry’s feedback. We’re actually accomplishing a lot. We’re having a more forward-looking approach and making sure everything works together. What’s coming out of it are clear indications. At the end of the day, everything we do has got to get after the threat.]
Article/Events: GovExec and Salesforce New Approaches to AQ Modernization for Mission Success
Date: 2/22/23
Speaker: Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, USSF
Quote: On speeding up AQ [When we say we’re not going fast enough, that’s an easy critique to make. Of course we will always want to go faster… When you build big satellites and you want them to last forever. You have to do testing, quality controls, mission assurance work, it all takes so much time that the requirements change. It shouldn’t be surprising that the old model had cost overruns and schedule delays. We’re in a new era. Launch cost is coming down. Smaller technology. We can refresh on orbit tech faster. Mike Guetlein and Frank Calvelli, the work that they’re doing, the tenets, those are the principles in place now that are already showing benefits for fast AQ cycles.]
Article/Events: CSIS Theory of Success for the US Space Force
Date: 2/21/23
Speaker: 2023 Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, Director, DISA
Quote: [You’ll always have risks with evolution. Whether it’s cyber, information, there are things we can do to move faster. Some say AQ rules prevent that. I think lots are hiding behind the AQ rules. We can go fast and we’ve proven that. There are a lot of authorizing officials who are more risk averse than risk management.]
Article/Events: AFCEA Rocky Mountain Cyberspace Symposium 2023
Date: 2/20/23
Speaker: Lt. Gen. John Shaw, Deputy Commander, USSC
Quote: “Calvelli wants to move faster, deliver more capability and resilience, and that’s exactly what we need to do our mission.”
Article/Events: SPACENEWS “Secretive military space agency stepping out of the shadows”:
Date: 2/20/23
Speaker: Dr. Kelly Hammett, Director, Space Rapid Capabilities Office
Quotes:
On Frank Calvelli "He’s trying to move the needle. I think he has really brought some much-needed focus and discipline.”
“There’s no magic formula for rapid acquisition. It’s using all the tools in the toolkit … all my money comes in one pot so I can shift it between programs based on execution and needs. I don’t need congressional approval to reprogram funds in a year of execution. That flexibility is key.”
“We don’t have to go to the Pentagon or to the service acquisition executive to get approval below [$1B]. It’s another thing that lets us go fast … If we misuse any of those authorities, they will be taken away from us.”
Date: 2/09/23
Speaker: Col. Clint Hunt (Ret.), Director of Intelligence and Defense Programs, ULA, USAF
Quote: On shifts happening in space today [Two things come to mind. 1) is the threat, listen to Lieutenant General Guetlein…we hear every year budgets are not getting any larger. Looking for private sector for more efficient ways to provide capabilities. Speed and scale that is too bureaucratic for commercial system.]
Article/Events: 25th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference
Date: 2/09/23
Speaker: Chirag Parikh, Executive Security, National Space Council
Quotes:
[Need to think about ways for investment arrangements of commercial platforms. SDA partnered with company to put translator services, so SDA architecture could talk to commercial. Not just transaction base, often commercial industries taking, how do we provide capabilities to the government. Not just a call to private sector but call to government as well.]
[Need to consider fully how to integrate increasingly commercial systems into our government system. Delivery, quantity, quality, and capabilities [are all factors]. Is there an opportunity/need to monetize some of these capabilities and services, if help save money and accelerate acquisition profiles?]
Article/Events: 25th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference
Date: 2/08/23
Speaker: Lt. Col. Nicholas Estep, Program Manager, Defense Innovation Unit
Quote: “I hear senior leaders all the time talking about how we’re trying to go smaller, faster, cheaper, to leverage the commercial sector as much as possible. We see [legislative] language for accelerated adoption of commercial technology.”
Date: 2/08/23
Speaker: Sandra Erwin, National Security Space Reporter, SPACENEWS,
Quotes:
"There is a major push at high levels of the Pentagon to change the procurement culture, including efforts by the Space Force to use commercial services instead of building satellites in-house."
"An evolution is taking place at agencies like the Space Systems Command and the Space Development Agency that are buying satellites from commercial vendors not just for experiments but for actual constellations, [Lt. Col. Nicholas Estep] noted. The Space Systems Command, for example, established a commercial services office specifically to take advantage of emerging capabilities from the private sector.”
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