The U.S. government, particularly the Defense Department, will play a decisive role in selecting which small launch providers stay in business.
Since the pandemic hit, Pentagon contracts have been a lifeline for companies in the space industry.
The trade association that represents small satellite manufacturers is making a fresh push on Capitol Hill to ensure funds are included in the Pentagon’s budget for smallsat technologies.
The Space Development Agency officially came into existence last week and already is causing a stir.
Once approved by the White House, the Pentagon will send a legislative proposal to Capitol Hill that lays out how the Space Force would be organized. Then officials will begin to brief lawmakers and staffers and they are sure to face a lot of tough questions.
We are starting to get a clearer picture of how the Pentagon plans to fund and organize the Space Force as a new military branch.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the Space Force will be small in size and its advantage will come in the form of cutting-edge technology.
The national security space program at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress is working on a list of recommendations on how the Pentagon could work better with the commercial space industry.
While the Pentagon says it wants fast and lower cost launch services from the private sector, it is not making necessary changes to its procurement methods to make that happen.
One of the surprises of the 2019 Missile Defense Review is that it did not cheer the use of weapons in space.
At the Reagan National Defense Forum and the West Coast Aerospace Forum this weekend, analysts and former defense officials roundly criticized the Pentagon for lacking a solid plan to modernize capabilities in areas where China and Russia are advancing.
Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he expects a new Space Development Agency to be in place sometime in the first quarter of 2019.
The Space Force that U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to set up could be a dim prospect if Republicans lose control of either the House or Senate when voters go to the polls Nov. 6 for the midterm elections.
The Pentagon is expected to reveal in next year’s budget its plans to move forward to deploy new missile defense systems in space.
The White House just released a year-long study of the U.S. defense industrial base that was billed as the deepest dive in decades into the state of the nation’s defense industry.