Date
Speaker
Quote
Event/Article
12/15/2022
Frank Calvelli, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisitions and Integration
[Lt Gen Michael Guetlein talks about this and I really like that approach. Take advantage of what you have. Take advantage of commercial. Build only what you must. I think this is a great strategy...They're doing great work. They have the Commercial Services Office. They have their Front Door Initiative. I’m seeing great work. I’m very fortunate that we have Gen Guetlein. It’s fabulous he’s doing a great job.]
[I see SSC doing great work in this area. If you want to go fast, you can’t build huge satellites. We need to build faster and smaller.]
[One happy surprise, they said it’d see a lot of duplication of effort. They said SSC, SDA, Space RCO, Army, they’re all doing the same thing. I have seen none. Zero. I’m not sure if people have quite understood. It’s going to take a while to really get to an integrated architecture but I think over time you’ll see tight integration.]
[SWAC is awesome. They do a fantastic job at analysis. We have a great relationship. One thing I’m seeing is teamwork. Missile warning and tracking SSC, SDA, they both have a piece in it. Program Offices work together. It’s really a role model for how things should work.]
[When I speak to SSC, they always say they’re working to do more like SDA. They’re trying to emulate the business model. I think it’s a good thing.]
On LEO SDA model [I’m still very excited about the program. It’s still pretty damn fast. It’s still under three years. To me it’s still the way of the future and an amazing accomplishment. I’d like to see us take their formula and apply it across regimes.]
[When I talk to companies working with SDA, feedback I normally get is they really like where we’re going. They say they’re able to move faster. When they work with SDA they say they’re on a faster development cycle, take more risk, execute faster. Feedback I’ve gotten is they like the shorter development cycles because they can hire folks who can see things through. Fixed price gives them the opportunity to engage with the supply chain faster.]
[I really like the path of SDA. Orbit diversification and proliferation are key components to a resilient architecture.]
[I do see us driving down small sats, existing tech, faster timelines. Timeline between contract award and launch should be three years or less. I’ve had great work with this before. I believe SDA is doing this. We need to get here.]
[Fixed price contracts. You’re going to put newer technology up faster. Much better tech refresh. You need to keep track. NASA, NRO is doing this. SF needs to do this. We don’t want to be the last ones in the factory doing cost plus. NRO is fantastic at doing this. DoD is good but there needs to be more focus on connections with program managers.]
[Speed, resiliency, integration. Speed in AQ to deliver faster. Resiliency in the architecture. Integration, space is the great enabler. When I came in, I was so impressed with how well SF had been doing. I’ve got three org, SDA, SSC, Space RCO. I intend to manage them as an integrated portfolio and no major reorgs. I thank Congress for their support in improving space AQ. I believe the traditional ways of doing AQ must be reformed. Developing large satellites can no longer be the norm. Build small, take advantage of commercial, execute. We lose so much speed by not staying on schedule.]
12/14/2022
Dr. John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, DoD
[There is deep awareness of the need to move faster to leverage commercial. I’m happily not the AQ official but we need to get after it. Part of it is buying instead of building. Yes, it’s a tough problem. Clearly, we need to move faster.]
12/13/2022
Sandra Erwin, National Security Space Journalist, SPACENEWS
[What are they actually doing on the AQ side? What will SSC and SDA actually do? NRO is viewed as the model, will it be replicated by DoD?]
[What’s the role of NRO and SF? They’re working to get their own path. They’re really doing what AF was doing. SDA is probably the closest thing they have to a new architecture and new element. They really need to start showing this. Without an NDAA passed, that’s going to be difficult. They have a lot of initiatives planned but they’ll be put on hold until an appropriation is passed.]
12/6/2022
Col. Joseph Roth, Commander, Innovation & Prototyping Acquisitions Delta, SSC, USSF
"And so part of the Space Force and where I work space systems grand is we're trying to make it easier to work with different commercial companies, and our industry partners, we've created a couple of different organizations for that. But the first and foremost, your entry point into the Space Force and Space Systems Command is through the SSC front door, that's your one stop shop, especially if you're a small business, you've never worked with the government before. Or you're a non traditional, you may be a larger company, and are looking for ways to get into the market in the Space Force and satisfy some of our needs."
TechCrunch Sessions: Space 2022
12/5/2022
Shannon Pallone, Deputy SFPEO, BMC3, SSC, USSF
On pros and cons of ops acceptance process [Pro is it forces the AQ community to not just think about the best way to acquire but what the operator needs. Biggest con is that it can be very ridged…]
12/3/2022
Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, USSF
[We have to be able to think through and figure out how to be resilient now knowing the AQ takes a bit of time to get in place. SSC, we have established the Commercial Services Office and Front Door so industry can come in and help us get resiliency now. Starlink is just one example.]
12/2/2022
Chirag Parikh, Executive Secretary, National Space Council
[Finally, [we] have the commercial capabilities. [As a] subset we have a ton of government and industry cooperation, [that is] traditional and non-traditional. There is new acquisition strategies that come into play, new ways to learn all about the space industry, it is hard to keep track of all of the startups.]
CompTIA Global Space Summit
12/1/2022
Dr. Debra Emmons, VP/CTP, Aerospace Corporation
[I think the strategic commercial enhancements BAA framework is a nice way to expand the reach of new companies. IC is casting a wider net. SSC is also looking at agencies and how they did stuff on the contract side.]
12/1/2022
Dr. Debra Emmons, VP/CTP, Aerospace Corporation
[Gen. Guetlein’s exploit, buy, build, that’s how SF is trying to move but you need to have the architecture, contract mechanisms, budgeting… all of that needs to be in place. That’s where NASA and commercial are ahead. But there is a lot of opportunity now with DoD and SF to really do this leveraging. They have a lot of new activities in place. SSC has the Front Door. They’re doing new ways in looking at force designs and architectures. There’s also the Commercial Services Office.]
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