Mantis Society Study Center: SN Military.Space | Budget delays spell trouble for space programs / Trump’s national security strategy to highlight space

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

SN Military.Space | Budget delays spell trouble for space programs / Trump’s national security strategy to highlight space

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

A SpaceNews newsletter sponsored by

Kratos is leading in the evolution of resilient ground systems architectures.
Learn more at: http://www.KratosDefense.com/Assured

by Sandra Erwin • serwin@spacenews.com

HOT TOPIC: Pentagon on edge amid budget stalemate

Congress last week managed to keep the government open with temporary funding until Dec. 22 while lawmakers figure out the next steps. The odds of a long-term deal by Christmas that gives the Pentagon what Secretary Jim Mattis asked for seem slim. Capitol Hill watcher and industry analyst Mike Tierney: "Conferencing the defense bill and producing a final product by the 22nd would be very challenging. To pass such a bill through the Senate, the GOP will need to get eight Democrats to support this strategy in order to reach the 60 votes needed to pass. Since the Democrats have mostly stayed in lock-step on their position that the domestic programs receive parity, this strategy will likely fail in the Senate unless the Democrats get a very substantial policy provision in return."

What does all this mean for DoD space programs? Continued uncertainty and likely delays. "Absolutely there will be pressure on space programs," said budget analyst Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

MORE DETAILS HERE

What's up with Trump's National Security Strategy?

The national security world is keeping close watch on the upcoming release of the Trump administration's first national security strategy. There is speculation that it will be out before Christmas but we are still waiting for the official word from the White House. Pentagon spokesman Col. Robert Manning told reporters Monday that he hadn't heard about a release date yet. The national security strategy is only the first of several key documents that should follow: the defense strategy review, the nuclear posture review, the ballistic missile defense review. All will influence what goes into the fiscal year 2019 funding request.

There will be a focus on space in Trump's strategy, according to an early draft obtained by Axios. The primary emphasis will be homeland security and fighting terrorism, but also a focus on economic competitiveness as a national security imperative and the emergence of technological threats, including Russia's hybrid warfare and the weaponization of space.

CAPITOL HILL
SPACECOM chief Raymond enthused about NDAA reforms

"I very much appreciate the interest from Congress in space. I think the law is going to help us," Gen. John Raymond said Friday at a Capitol Hill event hosted by the Mitchell Institute.

The 2018 NDAA increases the general's clout significantly. It gives him a longer term of six years and shifts space-related organizational, training and equipping powers from the the Air Force and secretary and chief of staff to Air Force Space Command.

Raymond said the reorganization laid out in the NDAA will help to set the conditions for the United States to get ahead of its enemies in space.

"It will help us get where we need to go," Raymond said. "I always talk about having a foot on the accelerator. But I don't just want to have a foot on the accelerator. I want to run laps around our competitors."

MORE DETAILS HERE

DEFENSE
How does space fit into the larger military picture?

For anyone who doesn't get the role of space systems in future warfare, here's a clear and straightforward explanation from Air Force Gen. David Goldfein.

"What I would call 20th century discussions are characterized by platform vs. platform discussions: How does the F-35 do against the J-20?" he said last week at the Reagan National Defense Forum.

"I say, it's almost an irrelevant discussion because I can't think of a scenario where I'm going to put a single F-35 against another fighter plane. When you face the United States of America, you're going to face an F-35, plus low-Earth-orbiting satellites, plus an Aegis cruiser, a brigade combat team, a Marine expeditionary force."

The key is: "How do you connect it in ways that allow the commander in chief and commanders that are trying to produce options to be able to create options at a pace that the adversary can't keep up with?"

It's all about the network folks.

SN INDUSTRY NEWS

SPACEX TO RESUME FALCON 9 LAUNCHES. More than a year after suffering significant damage in an explosion, the first launch from Space Launch Complex (SLC) 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, is now scheduled for Dec. 13, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 launches a Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. The rocket's first stage performed a successful static fire test there Dec. 6, the first major activity at the pad since the accident.

PRE-FLOW FALCON BOOSTERS GET NASA THUMBS UP. A NASA official said Monday the agency agreed to use a previously flown Falcon 9 first stage on Dragon's upcoming cargo run because it has "equivalent risk" to a new booster. At a pre-launch press conference, NASA ISS manager Kirk Shireman said the agency was "very comfortable" with its assessment that the risk of launching with a previously flown booster was roughly the same as with a new one. Some specific technical risks, he said, were actually lower with a reused booser, while others were higher.

U.K. WANTS TO BE A HAVEN FOR SPACE STARTUPS as it aims to grow its space industry to control 10 percent of the global market by 2030. According to Graham Turnock, the chief executive officer of the U.K. Space Agency, to achieve the ambitious growth target the U.K. will look to grow existing companies, support the creation of new ones, as well as encourage firms funded elsewhere to relocate to the U.K. by providing competitive early stage financing. "We are looking for a large number of new startups, inward investment in particular," Turnock told SpaceNews.