"It's a way for them to understand what the threat is, but also they will have the ability to reach back to the government if they actually see something. So, we're trying to have a give-and-take discussion," Col. Richard Kniseley, the head of SSC's Commercial Space Office (COMSO) that manages Front Door, told Breaking Defense in an interview March 21.
Col. Rich Kniseley said the current plan is to set up a new Space Force working capital fund for buying commercial SATCOM, initially worth about $120 million, on Oct. 1.
As aircraft shrink, threats expand, and technology accelerates, aircraft engines must iterate along with the threats.
The Space Force is "still working through some issues or obstacles or challenges with industry," including clauses that would allow the Pentagon to direct a CASR participant to deny service to other customers, and when military users would get "priority of service," Col. Richard Kniseley told Breaking Defense.
Other than that, for a number of reasons, including the transition to a new administration, our crystal ball for the Space Force in 2025 is pretty darn cloudy.
The Army is convinced that there are benefits to be had from moving to a SATCOM-as-a-service model, including rapid response to battlefield needs and access to the very latest tech.
The request for information also asks industry to comment on the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve program's clauses allowing the Space Force to prohibit a participating firm from selling products/services to other customers during times of crisis and war.
Onshoring and investment in military-specific semiconductors anchor a cornerstone of the defense industrial base.
Perhaps most intriguing is legislative language that calls into question Pentagon and IC plans to declassify data from classified remote sensing satellites that are part of a newly developed joint architecture called the "High-Capacity, Find, Fix, Track, Target and Engage and Assess Constellation," or "HCF" for short.
Col. Rich Kniseley, who heads up the Space Force's Commercial Space Office, said right now he is "targeting mainly space domain awareness" for the first CASR contracts.
More than a dozen sources tell Breaking Defense that tensions between the NGA and Space Force are rising on commercial ISR, with White House officials watching closely.
"It will provide commercial SATCOM subscription services, which include SATCOM coverage in different locations, terminals, bandwidth, training if required by the unit and help desk services," Paul Mehney, public communications director for Army PEO C3T, told Breaking Defense.
CDAO’s Advana data analytics platform is ingesting data from about 500 DoD business systems.
When it comes to leveraging commercial space tech, one analyst said, "The old adage holds — show me your budget and I’ll show you your priorities."
In exchange for consenting to allowing DoD to commandeer services, the framework document suggests incentives for industry participants such as giving them status as a "preferential provider" to US government contracts and "war-risk insurance."
Space Systems Command's new Commercial Space Marketplace for Innovation and Collaboration (COSMIC) facility in Chantilly, Virg., will serve as the "physical headquarters" for the SSC Commercial Space Office.
While there is no formal agreement, NRO and the Space Force have reached an informal accord to each use commercial imagery the other has acquired, and are in discussions about a potential DoD-IC "marketplace" to ease sharing.