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 General John Hyten said the United States had been bracing for
threats to its satellite systems for years, but continued
anti-satellite testing by potential foes had fueled a fresh sense of
urgency in both industry and government about the need to prepare to
win a possible war in space.
"We have to figure out what we're going to do and how we're going to
do it," Hyten said in an interview, warning that a virtual or
physical war in space would be devastating to the global environment
and economy.
"We're not going to be bested. We will not," he said.
Hyten and other leaders challenged business executives at the annual
Space Symposium conference in Colorado Springs to develop ways to
automate flight safety for rockets, set up a common ground system to
track, communicate with and control satellites, and continue cutting
costs of multibillion-dollar systems.
He said increasing competition and mounting budget pressures had
already prompted big players like Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co
and Northrop Grumman Corp to lower costs, embrace emerging
technologies such as 3D printing, and adopt commercial business
practices.
The expected certification of privately-held launch provider Space
Exploration Technologies Inc, or SpaceX, to compete for government
satellite launches had also triggered "huge, positive changes" at
United Launch Alliance, a joint venture owned by Lockheed and Boeing
that has been the sole provider, he said.
But more work was needed, including new business models such as
leasing equipment or paying companies like Intelsat Inc to operate
satellites, to ensure delivery of equipment and services was on time
and within budget, Hyten said.
"If they’re going to stay competitive, they better figure out how to
work in this future," Hyten said, adding that the Pentagon was done
funding decade-long satellite programs that saw massive cost
overruns and technology challenges.
The government would fund rigorous technology development efforts to
reduce risks, and future contracts would likely be structured as
fixed-price deals, he said.
Hyten said the Air Force was already providing limited funding for
work on new digital payloads for the next generation of global
positioning satellites (GPS), and planned similar efforts to develop
a new wide field-of-view sensor for a follow-on missile warning
satellite.
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He also predicted a "fundamentally different" approach to an
upcoming study of tactical communications needs that looked at
leasing and other solutions instead just buying equipment.
Hyten declined to discuss offensive U.S. capabilities, but said
rapid advances in electronic warfare by potential foes meant the Air
Force needed revolutionary, automated and adaptive systems for
battle management and command and control of satellites.
A previously unreported five-page memorandum signed by Hyten in
February mapped out long-term science and technology needs for space
and cyberspace, saying it was imperative to deploy more capable
equipment more rapidly and at far lower cost.
Air Force Space Command posted the memo on its website this week
after Hyten's chief scientist, Merri Sanchez, spoke at the
conference.
The memo listed key focus areas, including new visualization tools,
quantum computing, secure communications, breakthrough technologies
for launching satellites, data fusion, and systems that could
predict and anticipate space and cyber attacks.
Hyten said the U.S. Air Force also hoped to aggressively expand
sales of U.S. missile warning and communications satellites to close
allies, since future conflicts in space would involve the same
coalitions now used for air, sea and land wars.
Lockheed, Northrop and other companies say initial sales could be
made to Britain, Australia, and possibly Japan, although it may take
years to cement larger business deals.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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