Darlene Costello, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, may become the new Space Development Agency boss. (USFA/Todd Maki)
CORRECTION: The previous headline stated that SDA has moved to the Air Force; instead, the transition effort has just been launched. COLORADO SPRINGS: The Space Development Agency (SDA) is losing its status within the Pentagon’s research and engineering office, and will now reside within the Air Force’s acquisition shop, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall announced today.
Kendall said he and Heidi Shyu, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering who currently oversees the SDA, have set up a working group to manage the transition. Previously, the SDA was not associated with any one single service, but instead resided within USDR&E, which falls under the Officer of the Secretary of Defense.
“By statute, this is scheduled to occur on 1 October 2022, but there is no need to wait them until then,” he told the Space Foundation’s annual Space Symposium here.
The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act required that the Air Force appoint a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration to take on the role of Service Acquisition Executive for space systems and programs “effective on October 1, 2022.” The act also mandated that SDA be transferred under that new office.
Once SDA shifts to the Air Force, it will report to Darlene Costello, the acting assistant secretary for Air Force acquisition (SAF/AQ).
Kendall also detailed his plan to merge the Space Acquisition and Integration office, formerly known as SAF/SP, with the space acquisition directorate under SAF/AQ into a new organization with the same name, but now designated SAF/SQ.
The move, he said, is designed to emphasize that the new office is first and foremost an acquisition office as opposed to a policy shop for space acquisition issues. It will be headed by Brig. Gen. Steve Whitney, who replaces Shawn Barnes who served as SAF/SP deputy.
The new office will also report to Costello until the new space acquisition authority is created, with Kendall saying he is “hopeful” that Congress will use this year’s NDAA to allow the move to happen before the statutory deadline. (And a number of lawmakers have said that would be just fine by them.)
“My vision for this position is that it should be largely a technical and managerial role that combines the traditional acquisition responsibilities with broader responsibilities for technical integration of space systems across the board, including the non-space systems” under the ABMS (Advanced Battle Management System) and JADC-squared (Joint All Domain Command and Control) environments, he said.
Currently, the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office is responsible for bringing ABMS experiments into programs of record.
Finally, Kendall said that international program office formerly under SAF/SP is now under the Air Force acquisition’s international affairs office, SAF/IA. However, “the technical aspects” of developing interoperability with allies will be the responsibility of the new space acquisition office.
Indeed, Kendall said that up to now, the United States has not down a good job with creating interoperability, “even with our closest allies” — a situation that he vowed to change for the Air Force and Space Force.
