40th Annual Space Symposium Sets Sights on Partnerships

The Space Foundation hosted its 40th Space Symposium from April 7-10 at The Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The premier event for bringing together global space professionals from all sectors, including GovCon, it welcomed more than 10,000 registrants and almost 400 exhibitors. This year’s theme was “Building Partnerships to Secure Our Future.”

Partnering on Procurement

Inefficient procurement processes and outdated laws are stymieing modernization efforts at defense and intelligence agencies, officials said.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations for the Space Force, pointed to how laws about the legal framework for the armed forces (Title 10) and the intel community (Title 50) are creating a perceived divide between military and spy agencies, which is slowing or preventing acquisitions.

To overcome that, the force, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) have been working together to determine what data the three entities already have before they request it from a commercial partner. That allows each to determine the priority of the data, who needs it, and how to distribute it.

“You [have] got to have a place where everybody works together,” said Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth, NGA’s director. That’s the vision behind the Joint Mission Management Center, a place he said could one day ensure that “everyone has visibility to that denominator … ensuring that we actually use good [information technology] for speed, to ensure that the task occurs and does satisfy disparate priorities at the same time.”

Slow procurement processes are also preventing the Defense Department from keeping up with China’s space capabilities, said retired Gen. John Hyten, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command.

“Our entire U.S. commercial space industry has fundamentally changed. The Chinese have produced hundreds of satellites that are on orbit, and they produce weapons that are on orbit, and then you look at our on-orbit capabilities, they’re basically the same as they were 10 years ago, even though we’ve had multiple presidents, multiple secretaries of defense, multiple guidance all saying we have to do something different,” Hyten said.

He argued for military leaders to get more budgetary flexibility and acquisition authority to help. “We have to give people authority and responsibility to execute,” he said.

Foreign Relations

Besides facilitating relationships among domestic agencies, the Space Force is also looking to cultivate them with international partners. To help, Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, said the agency is creating a guiding document for countries interested in working with the United States.

Among his goals are fully integrated systems between nations, integrated policies and training, common standards and strategies, and more joint exercises and exchange of personnel.

One challenge to the plan is classification levels. Although the process to lower the classification of more information to facilitate more information sharing is happening, it’s happening slowly, Saltzman said.

“The burden of proof is on the person that wants it lower in classifications to prove that it won’t cause any harm or any issues for other collateral operations,” he said. “Space power is the ultimate team sport. The domain is too big, too complex, too dynamic for a single nation to secure.”

Strategies for Success

Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of Space Command, announced the operationalization of two strategies — one around AI and the other around experimentation — to maximize the command’s readiness.

Priorities for both include integrated space fires (superiority capabilities), resilient and timely command and control, missile defeat effects, battlespace awareness, cyber defense, and better business processes.

Whiting pointed to the recent fast-tracking of commercial technologies by Marine Corps Forces, Space Command. That involved identifying a commercial off-the-shelf solution for rapid experimentation and testing, an approach that could enable the service to field tailored solutions by 2027. In fact, working closely with GovCon is one of the command’s five Elements of Victory, or “our best military judgment for what we think we need to win in a conflict” in space, he said.

Saltzman discussed plans for Golden Dome, which would create a shield to protect the United States against missile attacks. An executive order established the initiative, modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome, on January 27.

The plan is in its earliest days, Saltzman said. “We’re doing the planning. We’re looking at what resources might be available, which programs are currently developed that might contribute to it. And that is all still way pre-decisional,” he said.

He added that the Pentagon’s current acquisition process is too slow for the dome initiative, saying that under it, it would take 12 to 17 years to develop. As a result, the Missile Defense Agency and Space Development Agency have issued requests for information to the private sector to assess “the art of the possible,” he said.

With so many moving parts, it will be fascinating to see how this plays out at next year’s symposium!