CAPITOL HILL: The Air Force and other services, after decades during which America often built a highly capable military satellite but didn’t have the ground equipment to use it, are trying to claw back years and dollars of often wasted effort by holding joint experiments to test satellites and ground equipment at the same time.…
By Colin ClarkModernizing our supply chain is a national security imperative
Closing supply chain gaps in innovating technology will reposition the industrial base to be a strategic source of value.
UPDATED: Insights From Steve Grundman, Former DUSD Industrial Affairs WASHINGTON: For several years, senior Pentagon officials have said they don’t expect or encourage mergers of the giant defense companies, but mergers and acquisitions of smaller entities might well make sense. The first example we saw was the merger of ATK and Orbital Sciences. Today, Harris…
By Colin Clark
WASHINGTON: Imagine self-healing satellites built in space. One sensor breaks down and another sensor elsewhere on the satellite takes up the slack. And the satellites are launched in modular pieces, on a series of different rockets, then are assembled by a robot arm in orbit. Parts can be replaced. The satellite can be refueled to…
By Colin ClarkUPDATED: Air Force General Praises CHIRP, Hosted Payloads COLORADO SPRINGS, NATIONAL SPACE SYMPOSIUM: After almost a decade of discussion, hope and frustration, the time appears to finally be ripe for what the space industry calls hosted payloads, the Remora fish of satellites. The Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, which has long been wary…
By Colin ClarkCAPITOL HILL: Several defense giants battled today over $500 million in 2013 funding for a radio program as the House defense policy bill headed to the floor. The fight centered on two versions of the Joint Tactical Radio System, the Mid-Tier Networking Vehicular Radio MNVR (son of GMR) and the HMS tactical radio. Company lawyers…
By Colin Clark
