Space Force Expects SDA, MDA Decisions Next Year

Space Force Expects SDA, MDA Decisions Next Year
Space Force Expects SDA, MDA Decisions Next Year

“That requires a little more time and effort for coordination and approval,” within DoD and with Congress, says Lt. Gen. David Thompson.

DoD, Industry Press FCC To Stop Vote On Space Debris Regs

DoD, Industry Press FCC To Stop Vote On Space Debris Regs
DoD, Industry Press FCC To Stop Vote On Space Debris Regs

The independent FCC seemingly “wrote these proposed rules mostly (if not entirely) in a vacuum, potentially failing to ensure White House directions in Space Policy Directives 1-through-4 were fully accounted for,” said one USG official with an eye on the debate.

‘Astonishingly Misguided:’ HASC & SASC Hammer FCC Chair For Ligado 5G Approval

‘Astonishingly Misguided:’ HASC & SASC Hammer FCC Chair For Ligado 5G Approval
‘Astonishingly Misguided:’ HASC & SASC Hammer FCC Chair For Ligado 5G Approval

“As far as I know the Pentagon doesn’t have a ‘death ray,’ but the nearest thing it has is GPS Kryptonite: when you get close enough to GPS to interfere: you die,” one veteran space industry watcher joked about the FCC Chair’s decision to approve Ligado’s 5g approach.

GAO Blasts Air Force’s All-Domain Battle Management Effort

GAO Blasts Air Force’s All-Domain Battle Management Effort
GAO Blasts Air Force’s All-Domain Battle Management Effort

“The Air Force has not established a plan or business case for ABMS that identifies its requirements, a plan to attain mature technologies when needed, a cost estimate, and an affordability analysis,” GAO chided.

Sen. Warren To CNO Gilday: Why Are You Ignoring The Law

Sen. Warren To CNO Gilday: Why Are You Ignoring The Law
Sen. Warren To CNO Gilday: Why Are You Ignoring The Law

“Although I appreciate the security concerns and understand the need for all officers to maintain cyber awareness,” Sen. Warren wrote, “the Navy never provided a sufficient justification for restricting public access to this information.”

AF Seeks Freedom To Shift $$ Between Space Programs

AF Seeks Freedom To Shift $$ Between Space Programs
AF Seeks Freedom To Shift $$ Between Space Programs

“[T]he way that the Air Force and now Space Force put their budget submissions into Congress, it puts all of the programs into individual program elements,” Roper said, “and that’s like locking [each] program into a little financial prison.”

Thornberry To Congress:  Indo-Pacific Theater Needs $6B

Thornberry To Congress:  Indo-Pacific Theater Needs $6B
Thornberry To Congress: Indo-Pacific Theater Needs $6B

Creating an Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative with a $6.09 billion investment in 2021 would boost air and missile defense, fund rotational forces and prepositioned stocks, modernize joint training ranges across the region, and ramp up information and influence operations.

MDAs Future Debated As Space Force Rises

MDAs Future Debated As Space Force Rises
MDAs Future Debated As Space Force Rises

“If they tried that, I’d expect to see a bipartisan display of pitchforks on Capitol Hill, and the likeness of certain DoD officials burned in effigy,” said one expert of any move to disband MDA.

COVID-19: ‘Significant’ Help For Defense Industry In $2 TRILLION Relief Package

COVID-19: ‘Significant’ Help For Defense Industry In $2 TRILLION Relief Package
COVID-19: ‘Significant’ Help For Defense Industry In $2 TRILLION Relief Package

During an almost hour-long press conference at the Pentagon this morning, the DoD’s top acquisition official, Ellen Lord, often struggled to answer questions over what segments of the defense industry could be put into action producing things like ventilators and masks, which are in short supply at hospitals across the country.

Don’t Shutter The Minerva Initiative: Social Science Helps DoD

Don’t Shutter The Minerva Initiative: Social Science Helps DoD
Don’t Shutter The Minerva Initiative: Social Science Helps DoD

While the current Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering is reported to not believe the research the MRI funds is “science,” letting the program go would be a significant loss for the Defense Department and produce little financial benefit.

Goldfein to SASC: Boeing KC-46 Still Faces ‘Profound Problems;’ Would Only Fly In War

Goldfein to SASC: Boeing KC-46 Still Faces ‘Profound Problems;’ Would Only Fly In War
Goldfein to SASC: Boeing KC-46 Still Faces ‘Profound Problems;’ Would Only Fly In War

Pressed by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen on when the KC-46 will be fully ready, Goldfein said the service is in final negotiations with Boeing about a “serious fix” for the Remote Visual System that currently has a dangerous blind spot when monitoring the boom during refueling.

Esper To Navy: Rethink Your Shipbuilding Plan

Esper To Navy: Rethink Your Shipbuilding Plan
Esper To Navy: Rethink Your Shipbuilding Plan

“The secretary is currently looking at that plan,” a senior defense official confirmed. The Navy has been struggling to define when and how it’ll reach 355 hulls, and no answers appear forthcoming.

Navy Looks to Slash $40B To Build Bigger Fleet

Navy Looks to Slash $40B To Build Bigger Fleet
Navy Looks to Slash $40B To Build Bigger Fleet

Acting Navy Secretary Modly says the “bottom line is that we need to find at least $40 billion in real line-of-accounting savings to fund the development, construction, and sustainment of this new [355 ship fleet] over the next 5 years.”

DoD Plumps SDA’s 2021 Budget, Despite Uncertain Role

DoD Plumps SDA’s 2021 Budget, Despite Uncertain Role
DoD Plumps SDA’s 2021 Budget, Despite Uncertain Role

The jump in R&D funding reflects SDA’s ambitious plans to launch “dozens” of satellites by 2022 to create a skeleton architecture in Low Earth Orbit to provide communications between satellites and ships, aircraft and ground-based weapon systems; track advanced missile threats including low-flying hypersonic cruise missiles; and to support targeting of adversary mobile ground systems.