Erich Hernandez-Baquero has been selected to serve as the Space Force’s next acquisition czar, while Roger Mason has been nominated as the next director of the National Reconnaissance Office.
Chris Scolese envisions an NRO constellation user saying, “‘I want to know how many ships are in the Taiwan Strait’ ... and then the system could go off and do it.”
The Sixth Domain is not defined by geography. It’s a new kind of conflict in which autonomy and networked systems allow thousand-dollar consumer electronics to destroy multi-million-dollar conventional weapons systems.
There are four steps the US can take to ensure it doesn't lag behind China and other adversaries in Earth Observation satellites, writes Payam Banazadeh in this op-ed.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, the position of Director of National Intelligence, (DNI) was created to close the gaps in the US Intelligence Community.
The selection of Meink is likely of interest to top Trump ally Elon Musk, whose SpaceX business will deal directly with the new Air Force secretary.
Next month’s launch “will be the first launch of an actual operational system,” NRO Principal Deputy Director Troy Meink said.
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
NGA chief Frank Whitworth defended his agency’s role in Ground Moving Target Indicator operations to Breaking Defense, as sources say there’s tension behind the scenes.
“Since the 2019 award of an integration study contract for commercial RF, we’ve seen increasing demand for this data source from across the user community,” said Chris Scolese, director of the NRO.
“I think it's really important that we start contributing. We've got a couple of little satellites up there,” said Air Vice Marshall Cath Roberts, “but space domain awareness is where we can start and we need to operationalize it because we are so far behind.”
"If we don't adapt, others will set the rules and challenge our new leadership. We should set the rules," said Stacey Dixon, deputy director of national intelligence.
Breaking Defense Europe will launch May 4 with Tim Martin and Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo as co-editors.
"This does not mean there are not constructive areas of engagement with China," Australia Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Marise Payne said at the State Department today. She then noted that "US leadership within the Indo-Pacific remains indispensable."
One senior official said he wants his agency to have the urgency about China the way the US had urgency about counterterrorism after 9/11.
"Firefly Alpha will provide a unique capability to the US Government that is not currently available: a 1,000 kg to orbit, commercial, domestic, launch vehicle that can be used for a wide variety of missions," says Firefly spokesperson Kim Jennett.
Space Force is not a voting member of the new(ish) IC Commercial Space Council to improve coordination on commercial space policy -- but NRO and NGA are.