The Space Force has been working closely with private investment firms to get a leg up on emerging technologies. The result is a “pool” of companies with products the service wants, a senior defense official says.
“Another innovation influence for us, which is new, is the introduction of the acquisition for the Space Force to the venture capital community and the investment community—not a community we interacted with in the past. And so this is a whole new community that we’ve been engaging with, learning with, going to their activities and understanding what their thinking is. In turn, we talk about what we’re looking for in space companies,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, who is the military deputy, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force and service acquisition executive for space, during the National Defense Industrial Association’s emerging technology conference on Thursday.
The U.S. Space Force has, through SpaceWERX, spent recent years working with the private investment community to foster relationships with newer companies and keep up with the rapid development of commercial space technology.
“We have been forming, over the last year, a pool of companies in space that have got a real product,” he said.
As a result, the service has re-evaluated more traditional acquisition programs.
“We’ve gone and looked at many of our acquisition programs that were on the more traditional route, and said, ‘Is there anything that we can do on the requirements side that’s causing us not to go to commercial? Can we take advantage of this? In several, we found good avenues to propose to the Space Force requirements community,” Purdy said. “And some of those decided to take us up on our offer.”
That was the case with the Space Force’s Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, for space domain awareness.
“It started early this year [with] nothing in mind, and…We had an industry day, and it grew up to like 150 companies that are expressing interest in this activity. We had a gold mine of interest in this area,” Purdy said. “That shows you how vibrant that innovation market is for space.”
The Space Force has been pushing for more adoption of lower-cost commercial options for certain military missions. The service wants multiple companies to provide services rather than relying on a “one and done” approach, Purdy continued.
“We will fly multiple companies’ material. That’s going to keep all those different lines and all those different companies active and hungry to go for that next tranche,” he said.
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