Space Force | The Contracting Education Academy

February 10, 2021 By cs

DoD is centralizing space acquisition, but still has bugs to work out

The Air Force is reorganizing its space acquisition office to better support the Space Force and other new space entities, but there are still questions surrounding exactly how the Pentagon will consolidate its space procurement.

Earlier this month the Air Force revamped its space acquisition shop by splitting it into three directorates.

“We have gone from an organization that was largely focused on policy and providing advice and counsel to the Air Force secretary to one that is now focused on, or will be focused on, acquisition, architecture, and then policy and integration,” Shawn Barnes, who is performing the duties of Air Force assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration, told reporters last week.

The three directorates are each run by a colonel and will focus on the three areas Barnes mentioned: acquisition, architecture, and policy and integration.

“Underlying those three key directorates,” Barnes said. “I have a number of subject matter experts that effectively work for all three of those directorates. They’re set up into different teams based on mission areas. We have a mission area related to precision navigation, timing and communications. We have a team that is focused on space control, a team that is focused on launch in space logistics, and then a team that’s focused on space control.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/air-force/2021/01/dod-is-centralizing-space-acquisition-but-still-has-bugs-to-work-out/

August 3, 2020 By cs

New Space Force acquisition office to prioritize integration over bureaucracy

One advantage of the new Space Force organization is that it allows its leaders to focus exclusively on space, rather than divide their attention between space and air.

That means the new assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition, once they’ve been nominated and confirmed by Congress, will be able to focus more closely on integrating and synchronizing existing space capability and acquisition programs. That’s something sorely needed in the space domain, according to one of the officials working to stand up the new office.

“Often this lack of synchronization is not an acquisition problem per se, but really it’s a problem of disparate funding responsibilities and poorly prioritized capability development,” said Shawn Barnes, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition, on the Space Foundation’s July 15 Space Policy Pod[cast]. “I believe our real value proposition is not in providing another layer of acquisition oversight, but rather in multiplying the value of space systems through integration and synchronization.”

The problem is that each of the other service branches, as well as a number of agencies in the intelligence community, all have vested interests in space and in protecting those interests. But each is moving in its own direction. Barnes sees an opportunity for the new ASAF to unite everyone on the same page.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2020/07/new-space-force-acquisition-office-to-prioritize-integration-over-bureaucracy/

March 2, 2020 By cs

U.S. Space Force chief tours Tech

A daylong tour of Georgia Tech on Feb. 24 introduced General John Raymond to some “next-gen thinking” that he might find helpful in his latest assignment.

**General John Raymond told Georgia Tech students and faculty that there is a great need for not only technical innovation, but also breakthroughs in space policy.**

The recently named chief of Space Operations for the United States Space Force spent the day talking space exploration and space policy with faculty, researchers, and students from the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs; the Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy; and the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering.

He capped off the day with a lecture, “Space as a Warfighting Domain,” delivered before a packed audience in the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design.

“There is nothing we do in the Joint Forces that isn’t related to space,” he told listeners before giving a brief history of the military’s space engagement. “Our adversaries have been watching what we do in space, wanting to disrupt us, and our job is to make sure that never happens.”

Raymond ended by encouraging the next generation of innovators in the audience to study hard and work even harder. The Space Force may be in their future. After all, when he was in college, Raymond said, he didn’t touch a computer until his junior or senior year.

“It’s an exciting time to be in this business. I wish I could change places with you. Don’t be bashful. You have a skill set that, when you graduate and are hired, whatever you do, you can help this country.”

Space as a Laboratory: The Daniel Guggenheim School

Raymond’s visit to the Guggenheim School introduced him to research on a broad array of projects – from optimized space mission operations to space situational awareness and alternatives to GPS navigation.

“The AE School has a strong, historical relationship with the military,” said William R.T. Oakes School Chair Mark Costello. “We are thrilled to welcome General Raymond to campus and are excited about digging into the challenges that the Space Force will put before us.”

Much of Costello’s conversation with Raymond revolved around CubeSats – the miniaturized satellites that are now routinely launched into space via traditional two-stage rockets.

By October of 2020, the AE School will have launched seven student-built CubeSats, each with unique scientific and technological missions. One of them, ORCA, will be launched in March to calibrate ground-based orbital and positioning equipment from space. Students in the Space Systems Design Lab (SSDL) designed it in just six weeks, after a launch spot was unexpectedly offered to them last November.

“They spent pretty much every waking moment during winter break working on it,” said Professor Brian Gunter.

“The great thing about our lab is that our undergraduate researchers are primary participants in these launches – designing the vehicles, building the circuit boards, 3D-printing the thrusters. They learn to take an idea from the beginning and follow it through with all of the complexities that unfold.”

Throughout his lab tour, Raymond was noticeably engaged in each presentation, stopping speakers to mine them for additional technical details. Prof. E. Glenn Lightsey, the SSDL director, applauded his keen interest in the field and in the future.

“We want space to become an active, vibrant environment, but as that happens, we will need to think about how to protect our assets in space. And we will also need to think about how to regulate safety; right now, there are no rules about how to fly. The Space Force can transform the way we see both of these things.”

Keeping Pace with the Need for Policy Innovation: The Sam Nunn School

Raymond later visited with students and faculty from the Nunn School for policy-oriented discussions that ran the gamut — from the complexities of creating the unique warfighting culture of a new service branch to what constitutes unacceptable aggression in space.

Raymond said the need is great for not only technical innovation, but also breakthroughs in space policy, an area he said currently resembles the “Wild Wild West.”

He told students that enormous opportunities are waiting for people like them in the space sector, whether it be military, civilian, or government spaceflight programs.

“When you graduate from here, know that you’re good enough to do whatever you want to do,” he said.

Mariel Borowitz, an assistant professor of space policy in the Nunn School, helped organize the visit and said she hopes it will lead to relationships that can help Georgia Tech play a role in the success of the Space Force.

Among other initiatives, the Nunn School and the Guggenheim School are partnering to develop a joint graduate certificate program in international security and aerospace systems. The Nunn School also is a participant in the Center for Space Technology and Research.

“The Space Force is going to need people who understand the strategic implications of operating in a contested space environment, and this is the type of issue that Nunn School faculty and students are well equipped to do,” she said.

Source: https://www.news.gatech.edu/2020/02/25/us-space-force-chief-tours-tech

February 7, 2020 By cs

Pentagon official: Space Force reorganization should not slow down acquisitions

In the legislation that creates the U.S. Space Force, Congress has directed a major reorganization of the office that manages the acquisition of space systems.

Although it could take some time to figure out the details of the Space Force’s acquisition bureaucracy, programs are not likely to slow down as a result, said Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment.

During a breakfast meeting with reporters Jan. 14, Lord said the Pentagon is closely monitoring the standup of the U.S. Space Force. A senior level Space Governance Board, in which Lord participates, spends a lot of time tracking the ongoing reorganization. She said leaders are enthusiastic about the creation of a U.S. Space Force under the Department of the Air Force. “I frankly see more effort and leadership involvement in space now than ever in the past,” Lord said.

“We see the standup of the Space Force and of U.S. Space Command as an opportunity to really focus on this critical domain,” she said. Specifically on how space acquisitions should be managed under the Space Force, Lord said it will be up to Air Force and Space Force leaders to propose options that satisfy the congressional mandate to give space its own acquisition shop.

“The NDAA instructed the Air Force to come up with a variety of suggestions, if you will, courses of action around how to do acquisition,” said Lord.

Keep reading this article at: https://spacenews.com/pentagon-official-u-s-space-force-reorganization-should-not-slow-down-acquisitions/

May 1, 2019 By AMK

‘Space Force’ windfall unclear for eager defense companies

As the Pentagon reorganizes its oversight of space and figures out the right mix of its future satellites, a similar transformation is going on with companies who build the spacecraft, rockets, and technology the Defense Department seeks.

Traditional large defense firms and small commercial startups are watching closely to see whether Congress will approve the Trump administration plan to create a Space Force, a new sixth branch of the military, and how the new Space Development Agency plans to create a web of hundreds of new military satellites in low-earth orbit.

“We’re in a really critical transitional time, it’s very transformational for something that we all know that we all feel every day,” Bill Gattle, president of Harris Corporation’s Space and Intelligence Systems segment, said in an interview at the Space Symposium, a trade show of military, civilian and commercial space professionals. “It’s changing pretty radically.”

Pentagon efforts to develop new satellite constellations are fragmented, however, and there remains a debate about what kinds of satellites the military should use. In recent years, there have been warnings that China and Russia are building weapons that could shoot down, jam, or hack the Pentagon’s larger navigation, communications, missile warning, and weather satellites. Those intelligence predictions have prompted a call for smaller and cheaper satellites that are closer to Earth and could serve as backups to the larger satellites in higher orbits.

Keep reading article at: https://www.defenseone.com/business/2019/04/defense-companies-already-preparing-space-force-windfall/156234