Space Force, IC’s battle over commercial ISR reignites as appropriators add fuel
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.
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.
The executive branch is "still talking through exactly what the scope and scale" of any new NRO program would be, but the "intent" is to "more cost effectively leverage" commercial capabilities "over the longer term," said NRO's head of commercial programs Pete Muend.
"The envisioned lunar railroad network could transport humans, supplies and resources for commercial ventures across the lunar surface," according to Northrop Grumman's announcement.
"This will be a modified mission from the Victus Nox mission," David Ryan, space portfolio manager at the Defense Innovation Unit said, noting that "there are two parts of the mission, and DIU is working on a single part with Space Safari."
Troy Meink, NRO principal deputy director, explained that the decline in launch costs is one of two critical factors in allowing NRO to begin to diversify its on-orbit force structure to include both "large and small satellites" using multiple orbital domains.
"By the end of next year, we'll have 126 Link 16 satellites that are operational on orbit," said SDA Director Derek Tournear.