WASHINGTON —
With Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) starting to gain acceptance
in the United States, U.S. Air Force Col. Tom Doyne foresees expansion of the concept internationally to provide what he calls
coalition ORS,
where NATO members, for example, would be able to share data from ORS satellites. Doyne, who works for the Rapid Reaction Technology Office
in the Director of Defense Research and Engineering
, says those satellites could also then be wholly or partially built by a NATO country.
It
is going to be a three- to five-year process to get some formal structure approved and actions taken,
Doyne
said.
“
We need to start now,” he said May 23
at a military satellite conference put on in Washington by the Institute for Defense
and Government Advancement (IDGA).
During the last two months, Doyne has
shopped the idea around NATO and to some European defense organizations and he says
he
is getting some positive feedback.
Luca del Monte, from the European Space Agency’s security strategy and partnership development office, approved of Doyne’s approach with one caveat: “Provided that it is not a case of buying [from the United States
], but of research and development.”
He told the IDGA conference attendees that if NATO wants a sound business model for coalition Operationally Responsive Space, then the alliance “needs to have European countries participate.”
Data sharing is a good first step because, “we start to know each other and to trust each other,” del Monte said.
