SpaceNotes Edition 11, September 28, 2021
CAPITOL HILL MATTERS
The Senate blocked a government funding bill that also lifts debt ceiling late yesterday by a 48-50 vote. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader, voted no so he can bring it up again for another vote. Democrats are starting to signal that they’ll drop the debt ceiling from a CR to keep the government funded past Thursday. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said last night, “We’re not going to let the government shut down and we’re not going to default.” Rep Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), chairwoman, HAC, said, “I’m sure there are very, very smart, clever people to figure out how you deal with the debt. Our first order of business is to keep the government open, which we are going to do.” As Politico put it, “Democrats are scrambling to get a plan B in place” but at this time, it does appear that a clean CR bill will allow the government to remain funded past Thursday.
SA – In a Democrat Caucus Meeting, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) signaled that Democrats will decouple the CR to fund the government from the provision to raise the debt ceiling.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said advancing a stand-alone debt limit bill is among the plans being considered to avoid a debt limit crisis. A separate CR bill could be voted on as soon as today to avoid a government shutdown and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has also confirmed that. Hoyer also confirmed that Democrats are considering advancing solo debt limit legislation, both through regular order and the budget reconciliation process. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Majority Whip, threw cold water on raising the debt limit through reconciliation. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said he is expecting a clean CR at some point this week.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a new estimate to congressional leaders, writing in a letter (attached) “Treasury is likely to exhaust its extraordinary measures if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by October 18.”
- https://spacematters.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/New-Treasury-Secretary-letter-28-Sep-2021.pdf
The SASC has now scheduled a confirmation hearing for Mr. Andrew Hunter, Nominee to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, among others, for 5 Oct at 0930. Mr. Hunter was nominated by the POTUS on 16 Jul, over two months ago.
Two Op-Eds that you might find useful from Mr. Hunter:
“At a time when the United States faces near-peer competitors who are equaling or surpassing our capabilities in certain areas, there is a near consensus that the acquisition system needs to be willing to take greater risk to develop and deploy new capabilities more rapidly. Taking greater risk requires tolerance for failure, which is something of an unnatural act already in the world of acquisition. When achieving accountability is prioritized as an overriding point of emphasis, there is even less hope that a tolerance of failure will develop. While accountability remains a necessary and valuable principle in many respects, basing our efforts at acquisition reform on the principle of accountability is not merely insufficient for solving our acquisition problems, it’s actually a bad idea.”
“Space Is Booming. America’s Next Heavy-Lift Rocket Should Reflect That … As the U.S. government leaves the RD-180 rocket engine behind, it should position itself to support and reap the benefits of the growth in orbital markets.”
A few additional past comments:
- Andrew Hunter, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, on an SDA: “First we should settle on what the Space Force is going to be, what its structure is going to be. Who is actually the customer of the SDA? What I hear is a lot of confusion about what the mission of this organization is.” – SpaceNews 04 Jan 2019
- Andrew Hunter, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, on a Space Force: “A lot of it will be on the basis of cost. Even a lot of the people who are advocates for doing a Space Force are concerned that the way the department goes about creating another service could kind of ‘gold-plate’ the idea and lead to something that is too costly and beyond what is needed.” – Wash Examiner 06 Nov 2018
- Andrew Hunter, director of the CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group on an SDA: “Who is actually the customer of the SDA? And the name is kind of interesting. If the idea is that we’re going to leverage commercial technology, then it’s an acquisition not a development agency. We’re letting other people develop technology and we acquire it. What I hear is a lot of confusion about what the mission of this organization is. In my ideal world we wouldn’t start a SDA until we know the answer on Space Force. Once we know that, then I would know what kind of development or acquisition solution we need to deliver to that force to enable it. But of course we’re doing the exact opposite, because institutionally we have the authority within the department to do the SDA but not the Space Force, which requires an act of Congress. So we are putting the cart before the horse.” – SpaceNews 03 Dec 2018
PENTAGON MATTERS
SecDef and Gen. Mark Milley, CJCS, will testify before the SASC today on the withdrawal in Afghanistan. This is important because Senators like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), member, SASC, “has threatened to slow walk all Pentagon and State Department nominees until Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan resign,” according to Politico Pro. Senators can’t ultimately stop final votes on nominees but they can gum up the process and slow it down considerably. As mentioned prior, DoD still has a few nominees waiting just for a confirmation hearing much less a final vote so these words could have implications for additional future nominees like the timeframe for an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration. It is almost October and the Senate is due to adjourn for the year on 10 Dec with three state work periods built in between now and then.
US SPACE FORCE AND US SPACE COMMAND MATTERS
According to SpaceNews, The Space Development Agency revised a request for proposals that previously had sought bids for 144 satellites. It is now seeking proposals for 126 satellites, and will procure the other 18 at a later time. https://spacenews.com/space-development-agency-revises-transport-layer-procurement-with-fewer-satellites-per-launch/
INTERNATIONAL MATTERS
The UK National Space Strategy (attached), released on Monday, sets five general goals for space, including growing its space economy, promoting its values of a “open and stable international order” in space, supporting research and innovation, defending national interests and using space for national and global challenges like climate change.
In a press briefing with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday, SecState said, “A number of important initiatives that we’ve been working on, again, coming out of the vice president’s trip, particularly our work to build supply chain resilience to potentially cooperate more when it comes to space…”
SECIAL MATTERS
SecAF has been in the seat for a little over two months. Just as a refresher, here are his quotes to date:
SecAF in first message to the Force: “Our “One Fight” will be our efforts to deter, and if need be, win a conflict with a strategic competitor – China or Russia. This will be my overriding priority as your Secretary. For over a decade, I have been sounding alarms about the threat to US interests and US military superiority posed by the military modernization programs of China especially, but also of Russia. These potential adversaries have demonstrated aggressive behaviors that threaten our interests and those of our cloe allies.” –28 Jul 2021
SecAF on how the military needs to adjust in confronting a peer competitor: “I spent the first 20 years of my career in the Cold War working on some of the types of issues that we’re actually confronted with now: a peer competitor who is acting very aggressively to try to defeat us, and responding to that. One of the things that we did then, routinely and in great depth, was operational analysis—modeling and analysis to support requirements decisions. And I noticed when I came back in 2010 … that we weren’t doing that. That capability had atrophied. So, one of the things I hope to do is recreate some of that or expand on the capabilities that we have now.” – Air Force Magazine 9 Aug 2021
SecAF on how throughout his career, including as the DOD’s lead on acquisition, he said he looked at “literally hundreds if not more, a thousand maybe, programs”: “To get to that objective of meaningful military capability as quickly as possible and as efficiently as possible … Cost and schedule overruns disrupt everybody … they cause lots of problems, and I try to avoid those, but do so in an approach that takes some risk, but not outrageous amounts of risk.
And what I’ve seen in part, I think in the last few years, is situations where people are going very, very quickly, but not necessarily in the right direction and not necessarily very efficiently. If you’re running fast in the wrong direction, you’re not making progress. And if you’re running as if you’re in a sprint when you’re actually in a marathon, you’re not going to do very well either. So, getting what we do right is first, and then doing it in the most efficient way is second, and in this position, I’m going to be focused on both.” – Air Force Magazine 9 Aug 2021
SecAF on how he has adjusted to being back in the Pentagon: “I actually like working in the Pentagon. There aren’t many people that would say that out loud. But, as in the show ‘Hamilton,’ this is the room where it happens. In fact, this is the building where it happens. This is where we decide. … This is where we’re going to do the things and make the decisions that are going to keep us safe and free—or not. And it’s an honor, it’s an awesome amount of responsibility I have, and it’s very humbling to be back in that game after a four-year hiatus. But it’s also incredibly stimulating and rewarding and fulfilling. I feel like when I walked in the building, … there I was back in the game, just like that … Pentagon pace of doing business—to 12- and 14-hour days and not getting much sleep. And going from one subject to the other, and the intensity of what we’re trying to do here, coupled with its importance.” – Air Force Magazine 9 Aug 2021
SecAF on preparations for the FY23 budget process: “It’s possible that I’ll make some different recommendations than the Air Force did or would have made before I came.” – Air Force Magazine 9 Aug 2021
SecAF on he wants the Air Force to focus on emerging tech to compete: “The obvious one that people talk a lot about is artificial intelligence and autonomous capabilities. But there are others. There’s some sensing advantages that are coming along—there are opportunities there. Things like cognitive radar and cognitive [electronic warfare]. There are things that allow us to take some commercial technologies and communicate much more effectively and process data much more effectively, that allow us to make better decisions—various parts of an engagement scenario, if you will. And I think that we can mature that technology very quickly and get it applied to military problems.” – Air Force Magazine 9 Aug 2021
SecAF on his approach to decision-making: “I’m a data-driven person. I will be looking at metrics to ensure that the forces in all aspects are healthy and doing well, and the trends are in the right direction.” – Defense.gov 12 Aug 2021
SecAF on Space Force: “I don’t blame people for wanting to be part of the Space Force. If I were a young man or a young woman out there today I’d be very tempted by Space Force.” – Defense.gov 12 Aug 2021
SecAF on “integrated deterrence”: “He [SecDef] talks about all the elements of power and all the elements of military power being able to work together toward a common objective. We’ve got to focus on our integrated capabilities and supporting each other … China’s rise and China’s military modernization program, which I’ve been studying for over a decade, pose a real challenge to us. And I think we have come to understand that the dominance we enjoyed at the end of the Cold War is not, as (Air Force Chief of Staff) Gen. Brown puts it, a birthright. We have to sustain our advantages and work hard to sustain them particularly against a capable, determined potential adversary.” – Defense.gov 12 Aug 2021
SecAF on how the over-arching philosophy guiding his actions and decision-making is captured in four words: “One team, one fight”: “You’re going to hear that phrase a lot from me in a lot of different contexts. The phrase, in my experience, originated in the Army. It comes out of a different era, a different time and a different service. But it’s applicable to our national security apparatus. It’s applicable to us as a country. … There are formidable challenges in the world and we need to work together to address them … We are in a national, strategic, long-term contest with a formidable adversary.” – Defense.gov 12 Aug 2021
SecAF on wanting to “scare China”: “I’ve been obsessed, if you will, with China for quite a long time now — and its military modernization, what that implies for the US and for security. One of the things I’ve gotten back up to speed on since I came back was our intelligence on what the Chinese are doing with their modernization programs. They’re moving faster than I might have anticipated. So, we have a lot of work to do.” – Defense News 17 Aug 2021
SecAF on the budget: “If we’re allowed to do the things we need to do, we can live within the types of top lines that we’re talking about.” – Defense News 17 Aug 2021
SecAF on China: “I have a visceral understanding that few in government today may possess what it means to have a capable, motivated, well-sourced strategic competitor. In my opinion, we have not fully internalized the significance of that development or what it means for our national security. We all recognize the change, but I’m afraid that to a certain degree, we are stuck in patterns of thinking and acting that no longer apply … This competition differs in some fundamental ways from the Cold War era, but it does involve some of the same features. These include the quest for military advantage through the rapid application of technologies to warfare and innovative operational concepts and the constant search for exploitable vulnerabilities and each side’s military capabilities.” – Politico Pro 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on Space: “Space is likely to be the decisive domain in a future large-scale conflict. It could well be the domain in which future war starts. The cautionary note is that space as a military domain has characteristics that make it inherently unstable.” – Politico Pro 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the Space Development Agency transfer: “By statute, this is scheduled to occur on 1 October 2022, but there is no need to wait them until then.” – Breaking Defense 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the new SAF/SQ: “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.” – Breaking Defense 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on space acquisitions: “One area where we have not done enough yet is in the acquisition capacity of the Department of the Air Force.” – FedScoop 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on transitioning the SDA under Space Force: “We’re going to step it up a notch as we move closer to bringing SDA into the Air Force. There is no reason why we shouldn’t begin to move aggressively in that direction.” – SpaceNews 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the SAE role: “We are hopeful Congress will give us the option to move more quickly in this year’s authorization bill.” – SpaceNews 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the re-organization announced today: “Until a new political appointee is nominated and confirmed, I have designated Brig. Gen. Steve Whitney to provide leadership of SQ and to serve as its military deputy. For major acquisition decisions, in the near term, SQ will report to Darlene Costello. She will be the acquisition executive for space systems until that role shifts to the new assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration.” – Defense Daily 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on his vision for the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration: “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 with non-space systems in the ABMS and JADC2 environments.What we like to call architecture definition, interface specification, open systems direction, and technical interoperability requirements will be a key part of this individual’s responsibilities.” – Defense Daily 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on our international partners: “The United States does not fight alone, nor do we deter alone. Our allies and partners — many of whom are here — are perhaps our most significant strategic asset. American space systems are a critical part of that network, as are the systems our allies and partners are fielding themselves in space. In my view, United States has struggled to achieve interoperability with our allies, even our closest allies. It’s time to break down those barriers in space, air, land, sea and cyber domains collectively.” – National Defense Magazine 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on potential changes to Space Force: “I think we have gotten the big parts right, but we should expect to make some changes as we learn from real time execution.” – AF.mil 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the importance of space: “It is impossible to overstate the importance of space-based systems to national security. Strategic stability depends on space-based reliable early warning and communications systems. I can assure you that this administration will continue the work of establishing, equipping, training, and sustaining the newly-formed Space Force and of increasing the resiliency of our essential space systems. China has moved aggressively to weaponize space, something that was recognized in the Obama administration, and that led to a change in the United States’ military strategy several years ago. Both conventional deterrence and conventional operations depend on access to communications, intelligence, and other services provided by space-based systems. As a result, our strategic competitors have pursued and fielded a number of weapons systems in space designed to defeat or destroy America’s space-based military weapons systems and our ability to project power.” – AF.mil 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the strategic challenge of today: “These include the quest for military advantage through the rapid application of technology to warfare, in innovative operational concepts, and the constant search for exploitable vulnerabilities in each side’s military capabilities. I have every hope that there will never be a military conflict, either strategic or conventional, between the United States and our strategic competitors. This is in no one’s interest, but as in the previous Cold War, miscalculation or human error are possible, and a strong deterrent is necessary to reduce the potential for a conflict that no one wants. This is just as true in the space domain as in all others.” – AF.mil 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the Alternate Acquisitions Systems Report and its status: “I have not had a chance to review the report, but I can make a couple of comments. The way one does acquisition depends entirely on the product one is trying to develop. I’ve over my career, heard a lot of ideas about different ways to do acquisition. The one thing that to me is constant is you take a look at the thing you’re trying to build and you set up your acquisition program to build it. The idea that there’s only one way to do acquisition that the Defense Department imposes on programs is not correct. It’s actually never been correct. For a lot of high-risk programs the right approach is to address those risk elements first, reduce those, and then commit to development for production and then go to production. That’s what people tend to refer to as the standard model. But it’s not the only model by any means, and it never has been. The thing that is different, perhaps in space is that the commercial space developments are creating an opportunity for us to develop a different kind of product in a different way. The products we have bought for space traditionally have been very exquisite, very high dollar value, very capable of lasting in space for a very long time. What the commercial world is doing is building products at scale – higher quantities. And they’re not designing them to last in space for a very long time. So they can accept some risk of failure, make quick corrections and then move on. If you’re only going to put one satellite up and it’s got to last 20 years and work when it gets there for sure, you go down a certain path. But if you go down a path more like the commercial path, you’re doing a different product and you can do it a different way. And I think that’s where our potential is. We need to learn from commercial industry. There are areas where because of the things they’re doing and because of their competitive environment, the commercial firms can be more creative in some ways – more innovative. So in general, I think the department should be able to learn from commercial firms. And we’ve done that, I think, in the information technology and software area specifically. But I think the same kind of opportunity to do so in space. But again, it comes back to what are we going to try to buy? And then you try to optimize the way you’re going to go about it.” – Transcript 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the space acquisition strategy he announced on 24 Aug: “The first step in moving at speed is to determine which direction you want to go in. So what we need to do first is make sure we understand our requirements and what it is we’re going to try to buy. And then you move out as quickly as you can. And I’ve used the phrase a lot, meaningful military capability. What we want to have is something that gives our combatant commanders something that they can use operationally, effectively. It’s not the quick demonstration that gets in that. It’s getting the numbers, the quantities, and the performance that they need to do their jobs.” – Transcript 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the “status quo” in space: “My experience with General Raymond is that the Air Force is not wedded to the status quo and is very aggressively looking for new and creative ways to defend the nation in space.” – Transcript 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the transition of Space Development Agency under Space Force: “It is an attempt to informally start the transition early so that we don’t have any abrupt changes when we come up on October 22. There has been good cooperation in general between the Space Development Agency and the Space Force and the Office of the Secretary the Air Force. The intent here is to put senior management attention on this. Heidi Shyu is new, as the Undersecretary for Research and Engineering. I’m new as the Secretary of the Air Force. We’ll work together, as we have in the past, to try to make sure that we’re moving as smoothly and efficiently from the current situation into one in which the Space Development Agency is part of the Air Force. So the idea is to get a head start on this and if there are going to be any adjustments that need to be made as part of that where there might be some resistance within SDA we can address that early and hopefully avoid that. Dr. Tournear said and has said in the past that the three kind of key things that he thinks SDA needs to do what it is supposed to do is head of contracting authority also and just decision authority and acquisition or senior procurement executive … normally the service has an acquisition executive who is the acquisition authority then can delegate those authorities. In the case of the Air Force, because the two assistant secretary positions, the assistant secretary for acquisition and the assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration, those two will have acquisition authorities. The obvious solution there is that Space Development Agency in some form would report through that assistant secretary. And that’s where the acquisition authorities would lie. Some could be delegated from that office but that would be on a case by case basis normally. Again, this is what we’re going to sit down and talk about. I don’t have a preconceived answer to your question as to how we would do those three things. But that’s what we would talk about in this period before the transition occurs.” – Transcript 24 Aug 2021
SecAF on the new acquisition: “Well, what I did in acquisition is a very different job here. I’m not coming here to be the acquisition executive for the Air Force, I’m the Secretary. But generally speaking, programs should be laid out to get to meaningful operational capability as quickly as possible. And I’ve looked at literally hundreds, if not more, a thousand maybe, programs. So I’ve got 50 years of experience doing that now, roughly. And I worked very hard when I was in the acquisition position downstairs in the [Defense] Secretary’s office to structure programs to get to that objective of meaningful military capability as quickly as possible and as efficiently as possible. You know, cost and schedule overruns disrupt everybody else. They cause lots of problems, and I try to avoid those, but do so in an approach that took some risk, but not outrageous amounts of risk. And what I’ve seen in the last few years, is situations where people are going very, very quickly, but not necessarily in the right direction and not necessarily very efficiently. If you’re running fast in the wrong direction, you’re not making progress. And if you’re running as if you’re in a sprint when you’re actually in a marathon, you’re not going to do very well either. So, getting what we do right is first, and then doing it in the most efficient way is second, and in this position, I’m going to be focused on both.” – Air Force Magazine 27 Aug 2021
SecAF on Space Force: “First of all, what I’ve seen so far, [USSF Chief of Space Operations Gen.] Jay Raymond has done a fantastic job and he’s had great support from [USAF Chief of Staff Gen.] C.Q. Brown. They’re off to a good start. It’s not easy to set up an organization like that. The model of the Marine Corps and the Navy doesn’t apply exactly. The Space Force in terms of people is quite small. In terms of importance, it’s quite large. And the types of systems they operate are, for the most part, not manned. So it’s a different kind of a service in several ways. General Raymond fully understands that. And I think he’s worked hard to keep the service lean, and to tailor it to the specific missions that he has. And I think General Brown has worked very hard to ensure that the Space Force is supported fully by the corporate Air Force, if you will. And in my case, I think the people that were here did well in the Secretariat, to ensure that that organization, and those organizations, also supported that endeavor. But it’s early stages yet—we still have a lot of work to do. We’re going to learn from what we’ve done. And we’re going to adjust as we go forward. But I think we’re off to a really good start.” – Air Force Magazine 27 Aug 2021
SecAF on what the Space Force gets to own and control, in the end: “That money (pass-through) is referred to as pass-through money that is in the Air Force’s overall budget but goes to other parts of the government. It’s been that way for a very long time. And I think it might be clearer to people who are casual observers of the budgets that if that money were somewhere else, then you could put it into the Department of Defense at the department level, you could put it into other places, potentially. I don’t find that to be terribly debilitating. Most people understand what it’s there for, why it’s there, that it’s a convenience to have it there, basically, budgetarily. So, among the things I’m worried about, that’s not at the top of my list. What I’m focused on is what we do have for the Space Force, what [are] the missions the Space Force has, and whether it has adequate resources to do those missions, and authorities. There are also, I think, questions that I hope to help answer: Where does the Space Force go? What is our future order of battle in space? And again, I’ve been quite encouraged by the work that I’ve seen that’s been done. The fundamental change that led to the creation of the Space Force was the recognition that we no longer have impunity in space. And that happened back in the Obama administration, we changed our strategy, in the second term of the Obama administration, to account for the fact that space was contested, and that we no longer could assume that our resources there were going to be survivable. We also had to deal with the fact that some of our potential adversaries were fielding their own space capabilities that were very threatening to our capabilities, particularly terrestrial capabilities. So, we’ve got to sort through. Again, we’ve made progress. This is one of the areas where I thought I could be helpful coming back in. But we’ve got to figure out what our future order of battle is, now we’ve got to figure out the most efficient path to get there. And from what I’ve seen so far, I think General Raymond and his team and others have made a pretty good start at that. But we do have more work to do there, too.” – Air Force Magazine 27 Aug 2021
SecAF on China: “There’s a general recognition, I think, of the threat that China potentially poses to the United States. We’re not back in the Cold War. It’s not the same. But we are back into a serious fight with a serious competitor. And I think we have, to some extent, lost our corporate memory about that … If I were totally comfortable with our capabilities relative to those of our adversaries, I wouldn’t be here.” – AF.mil 1 Sep 2021
SecAF on Space Force: “The ability to operate in space is essential to deterrence. There’s no question about that in my mind. Without the capabilities the Space Force brings, the Air Force and all the rest of the services are going to have a very hard time doing their missions.” – AF.mil 1 Sep 2021
SecAF on‘One Team, One Fight’: “I have a little aphorism I use, a little saying, ‘One Team, One Fight.’ It’s an old Army saying from many, many years ago. It represents where we need to be. We need to be focused. We need to work together, we need to be focused on the problem that we have. … There’s strength in unity and divided we will fall. That’s pretty simple.” – AF.mil 1 Sep 2021
SecAF on the importance of space: “It is impossible to overstate the importance of space-based systems to national security. China has moved aggressively to weaponize space.” – SpaceNews 16 Sep 2021
SecAF on the timing of a nomination for Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration: “We’re actually interviewing people now … And I’m hoping to make a recommendation to the Secretary and the President soon. So it’s moving forward. I’m reasonably happy with the pace in which it’s moving forward … we’re hopeful that Congress and this NDAA will give us the opportunity to give acquisition authorities to the new Assistant Secretary, sooner than a year from now. And hopefully, given the time it takes to get somebody nominated and confirmed about the time that that person arrives in office, they will also have the authorities of me to do their job.” – 20 Sep 2021
SecAF on Space Force: “We’ve also got the problem of the new Space Force and how to make that a success. We’ve got a department that traditionally has been a one-service department, which is now a two-service department. We’ll be taking a look at what we’ve done so far to address that reality, and seeing if some adjustments need to be made there. That’s a work in progress, but I think it’s off to a good start. I think there are a few tweaks that we may want to make as we define the different roles or the different parts of that organization overall, and decide what functions belong where and how they’re structured … I think we are starting to move towards a very different type of posture in space because of the threats that we see there. The startup years … tend to be relatively inexpensive compared to the years in which you’re procuring and fielding capability. It’s not close to us, necessarily, yet in terms of immediate years. But at some point, we have to get the order of battle that we need in space, and I think that’s going to require some increased funding in that area.” – Defense News 20 Sep 2021
SecAF on China: “China has been very careful and strategic about fielding capabilities designed to keep us out of their part of the world. … We do have a serious challenger, and we’re at some risk, and we need to address that and focus on that and work together to achieve that objective.” – Defense News 20 Sep 2021
SecAF on change and how to “be stronger”: “To be stronger, we are going to have to change. … We have to respond with a sense of urgency, but we also have to take the time necessary to make smart choices about our future and our investments. To get change right, we must improve our ability to analyze and understand the operational possibilities that technology is providing. We must be open-minded and objective about the operational doors that technologies like autonomy, artificial intelligence, and data analytics can open for us. We should not be doing demonstrations and experiments unless we can link them to true operational improvements and unless they move us down the field to lower-risk acquisition programs. I intend to strengthen these linkages and to use state-of-the-art analytical tools to do so.” – AF.mil 20 Sep 2021
- SpaceNews:“There is “strong evidence” that China is pursuing silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and satellite-guided munitions to strike targets on Earth and in space, he said. Some of that intelligence was revealed through open sources but Kendall also has received classified briefings. During a briefing with reporters on Monday, Kendall described these revelations as “the most disturbing developments in nuclear proliferation I’ve seen in my lifetime.” With regard to space weapons, he suggested China could pursue a global strike capability using space to deliver weapons, a concept modeled after the Soviet-era “fractional orbital bombardment system” conceived for the Cold War. The Soviets envisioned launching nuclear warheads into low Earth orbit and then directing them back down to targets on the ground. Kendall said he had no specific knowledge that the Chinese are pursuing this but said “it could be possible” and suggested this idea would be attractive to the Chinese because the fractional orbital system is hard to detect by early-warning satellites.” – 20 Sep 2021
SecAF on China developing weapons in space: “They have gone from a few high-value assets near China’s shores to the second and third island chains, and most recently to intercontinental ranges and even to the potential for global strikes from space.” – Defense One 20 Sep 2021
SecAF on China and space: “There is a potential for weapons to be launched into space, then go through this old concept from the Cold War called the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System which is a system that basically goes into orbit and then de-orbits to a target.” – Air Force Magazine 20 Sep 2021
SecAF on an increase in Space Force funding: “At some point, we have to get the order of battle that we need in space, and I think that’s going to require some increased funding in that area.” – Air Force Magazine 20 Sep 2021
SecAF on Space Force: “As a Joint team member, the Space Force provides and defends a number of capabilities that are used by all the other Services. As I mentioned, we will be moving forward with new services such as Ground and Surface Moving Target Indicator capabilities from space, and we will be moving to more resilient space architectures in general so that our Joint teammates can be assured of all the support they have come to depend on from space and from the Department of the Air Force.” – 20 Sep 2021
