Air Force Launches SpaceWERX Innovation Hub

WASHINGTON: The new SpaceWERX innovation hub, based at Los Angeles AFB, will cement the service’s effort to bring startups and cutting-edge commercial tech into the Space Force’s industrial base, Air Force acquisition head Will Roper says.

“This is not Space Force’s first foray into the world of commercial technology and commercial investment, but it is time for us to formalize their role,” Roper told the AFWERX “Accelerate” event today. He cited the Air Force’s first Space Pitch Day held last November, and last month’s International Space Pitch Day as examples of previous efforts to expand DoD’s space industrial base.

The Nov. 17 International Pitch Day was a first, co-sponsored by the United Kingdom and involving US and UK companies pitching to potential DoD, the UK Ministry of Defence and NATO buyers. The event was jointly funded by the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTI), the Royal Air Force and the US Air Force, and was organized by Starburst Aerospace, a US accelerator that links defense primes with startups. According to the Ministry of Defence press release, the 10 US and UK winning companies each received contracts worth up to $66,000.

SpaceWERX, also called AFWERX West, will work closely with Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), the primary acquisition arm for US military space systems, said SMC head Lt. Gen. JT Thompson. It will be led by Lt. Col. Rock McMillan, who is Space Force’s chief of innovation.

“The global space economy continues to grow at rapid rates, and SpaceWERX is going to help us continue our momentum as we try and take advantage of that growth,” Thompson told the AFWERX virtual audience.

The Dec. 7-11 event was put together to highlight new initiatives since Roper elevated AFWERX with a direct line of reporting to him back in June, as well as embedding it more firmly with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

These include the unveiling later this week of the first videos from the Agility Prime program, designed to kick start the commercial market for ‘flying cars,’ Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett told the AFWERX event.

As Breaking D readers know, some 50 vendors of electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft this spring were given a chance to strut their stuff to potential buyers across the military services and the US government.

Barrett noted that the Air Force is seeking to expand its efforts under AFWERX’s ‘Prime’ branch to use Air Force money to ‘prime the pump’ for bringing cutting-edge tech of interest to DoD into the commercial market as a way to reduce costs and speed development. (The other two AFWERX branches are Spark, which provides incentives to airmen to come up with new ideas; and AFVentures, the investment arm that debuted last March.)

“We will begin designing future Prime programs focused on space, autonomy, energy, gaming, supersonics and microelectronics,” Barrett said.

“Innovation is embedded in the DNA of our Air and Space Forces,” Barrett added. “AFWERX  is uniting the ingenuity of Spark, AFVentures and Prime, with the expertise of the Air Force and Space Force to propel us toward an inspired future.”