Achieving the Critical Components of Success for the Space Force's Commercial Space Strategy

By now, the United States Space Force is well into the initial stages of moving forward with its Commercial Space Strategy, or CSS. Released in April to align with the then-newly released Department of Defense Commercial Space Integration Strategy, the CSS seeks to institutionalize and operationalize private-sector capabilities by integrating space goods, services and activities.

The strategy acknowledges threats are increasing at the same time a rapidly growing industry space sector is “cultivating an ecosystem of innovation and reducing barriers to entry to deliver new, operationally relevant capabilities.” It states that the USSF will boost resiliency and capabilities if it can integrate organic, allied and commercial space solutions into hybrid architectures that maximize the value of all contributing components. Importantly, it calls out that, “The legacy space enterprise believed it could best manage risk by the government owning and operating most of the U.S. military’s space capabilities. As the Secretary of Defense has indicated, that mindset is no longer valid.”

We in industry greatly admire what we are seeing as a slow but steady shift in cultural mindsets at the DOD and the still relatively new USSF. Leaders there are now realizing they need a large number of satellites. They will, in fact, never have enough. That’s where the private sector steps in.

The transition toward more commercial acquisitions mirrors how we make major purchases in real life. We don’t look at a smartphone that we really like and then attempt to build it on our own. We just buy it. Through the CSS and other policies, the military and space community is acknowledging the need for more innovation, faster. Leveraging commercial solutions for infrastructure will enable this community to enhance the value equation of satellites, such as strengthening resiliency against jamming and interference attacks, while getting it all more quickly.

To lend further clarity into what is required, the USSF indicates that four guiding principles will drive the CSS:

Balance. The USSF seeks to appropriately balance government and commercial solutions with no overreliance on any single provider or solution.

Interoperability. Military standards and procedures should aim to strengthen interoperability between government and commercial systems/solutions without stifling public-sector innovation.

Resilience. With expanded industry partnerships, diversified supply chains and a larger volume and variety of solutions, the USSF anticipates greater resiliency, with a special focus on commercial capabilities which are proven as secure from cyber threats.

Responsible conduct. The deployment of solutions must be legally and ethically compliant, and consistent with international norms and standards.

From an industry perspective, we appreciate all four of the guiding principles. Regarding balance, we strongly feel no one single provider should dominate the landscape. Our national strength in space should be defined by a wide diversity of contributors and innovations. And, of course, our industry as a whole has set a high bar when it comes to legal and ethical standards.

The remaining two guiding principles, however, stand out as particularly critical for success. So, let’s break those down in more detail here, along with some recommendations for their effective achievement:

Interoperability. There are many interpretations of what interoperability exactly means within the context of satellites and space activity. Defining the term often amounts to the equivalent of a Rorschach test – you see inkblots as a cloud, and someone else sees them as a battleship. So it’s best to apply this term more broadly than it has been – that interoperability, for example, can exist at the physical layer, internet protocol (IP) layer, the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) stack, etc.

It doesn’t really matter how various solutions and components get to where they have to go. What matters is that when they get there, they make the collective whole communicate more effectively.

Service providers that take a highly proprietary approach to satellite communications introduce an additional burden on the ecosystem. There will always be companies that claim their products aren’t interoperable with every terminal because they are more efficient, better and stronger than others. But this isn’t good enough. We need to get to a point in which we can say bring whatever terminal you use. We’ll deliver the waveform for it. We’ll make sure it works within our system.

After all, the military and space community doesn’t want to go out and buy new terminals for every provider who claims to have the very best – but extremely proprietary – products. Agency acquisition decision-makers just want to know that whatever they’re buying will work with what they already have, in which they have already invested significant budget, training and additional internal resources.

Resilience. This is all about getting the fallback plans and capabilities in place and making sure they’re extremely reliable. The government customer needs to know that if one satellite gets blocked, there will be another one ready to go within a few minutes. The CSS calls for the prioritization of operational utility, feasibility, speed to fielding and resiliency by design. So commercial providers must ensure resiliency is built-in from the beginning. The customer shouldn’t have to wait until the next jamming attack to discover that resiliency for their SATCOM infrastructure wasn’t part of the overarching design plan.

Even though it has taken years to get here, it’s clear DOD leadership is acknowledging that change has to come. The USSF strategy tells us this isn’t going to be a one-time initiative. It’s going to be a sustained effort built upon trust in commercial providers as reliable partners.

By proving our solutions are designed with optimal interoperability and resiliency in mind from the very start – while bringing a balanced and responsible approach to innovation and acquisitions – we will earn that trust and the military and space community will reap the resulting rewards.