WASHINGTON: For the first time, Space Command is working with the operator and builder of America’s spy satellites, the NRO, to develop a shared “playbook” of pre-agreed actions to defend military and spy satellites during a conflict, SPACECOM and NRO officials say. The ‘playbook’ is a central part of a new joint concept of operations (CONOP)…
By Theresa HitchensROC-X – The solution to organic precision strike capabilities
At AUSA Global Force 2024, IAI will present integrated, AI-driven combat systems – both manned and unmanned – that are opening new opportunities on the battlefield.
Maxar will provide updates and enhancements using “its sophisticated change detection model and deliver land cover and classification solutions.”
By Theresa Hitchens
“That requires a little more time and effort for coordination and approval,” within DoD and with Congress, says Lt. Gen. David Thompson.
By Theresa Hitchens
“[I]t is fair to say that IC and DoD efforts have not always been aligned optimally, whether in acquisitions or operations,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Guetlein, NRO’s deputy director.
By Theresa Hitchens
DoD officials are extremely aware, almost to the point of paranoia, that even discussing the issue of NRO potentially being subsumed by the Space Force is playing with fire.
By Theresa Hitchens
The plan for multiple contracts represents a sea-change from past Intelligence Community practice in buying commercial satellite imagery.
By Theresa Hitchens
Modernizing our supply chain is a national security imperative
Closing supply chain gaps in innovating technology will reposition the industrial base to be a strategic source of value.
“I think maybe there is a mutual assured destruction in space,” Rep. Lamborn said, “where no one will go there because the consequences will be too severe.”
By Theresa Hitchens
NRO has had a complicated relationship with commercial remote sensing providers, especially those working with SAR and other powerful new technologies.
By Theresa Hitchens
When new entities fail, it’s most often due to the fact they don’t do what they do better than their competition (differentiated value proposition is the business term) and they lack investment in talent and technology. But there are other challenges.
By Troy Thomas and Cameron Scott
“People at the NRO and others hiding in unmarked cubicles in other parts of northern Virginia started breathing into bags like never before,” said one DoD source about the 2018 SSA transparency policy.
By Theresa Hitchens
NGA and NRO “have significantly overlapping Venn diagrams,” one industry source said, and they are still trying to “sort that through.” He added, “It’s not a nice clean line.”
By Theresa Hitchens
“To be quite honest most of our space systems are not the leading edge technologies,” Troy Meink, head of GEOINT at NRO, said. “We’ve not kept up in many cases with the commercial environment.”
By Theresa Hitchens
presented by
Modern space strategy, with its focus on resilience, requires “understanding the capabilities of each satellite and managing them as a constellation:” Jane Chappell, vice president of Raytheon’s Global Intelligence Solutions (GIS) mission area.
The first priority of the Space Force has to be addressing acquisition holes, including architectural planning and integration, enterprise systems engineering, and programmatic discipline.
By John Stopher