{"id":44381,"date":"2025-03-21T21:03:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T13:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/the-ax-has-become-an-important-part-of-the-space-forces-arsenal\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T21:03:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T13:03:15","slug":"the-ax-has-become-an-important-part-of-the-space-forces-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/the-ax-has-become-an-important-part-of-the-space-forces-arsenal\/","title":{"rendered":"The ax has become an important part of the Space Force\u2019s arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on the military\u2019s secretive Space Rapid Capabilities Office.<\/em><\/p>\n

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico\u2014For decades, America\u2019s big defense contractors have known they can count on a steady flow of business from the Pentagon. You win some, and you lose some. But don\u2019t fret. Inevitably, there\u2019s a new opportunity to get money from the world\u2019s largest military.<\/p>\n

This paradigm is shifting with the launch of a wave of startups eager to deliver software, missiles, drones, satellites, and other services. It\u2019s no surprise that the US military is often the core market for these companies.<\/p>\n

Since its establishment more than five years ago, the Space Force inherited many of the old ways of doing business ensconced at the Pentagon since World War II. Over the last half-century, numerous defense contractors merged and acquired one another, often escaping scrutiny by promising efficiencies that will result in savings for US taxpayers. Those efficiencies rarely materialized.<\/p>\n

A fresh set of eyes<\/h2>\n

The newest military service wants to chart a new path in how the Pentagon buys weapons and services. Over the last decade, military officials have chartered organizations nationwide to seek new technologies that could give US forces the edge over potential adversaries like China and Russia. These include outfits like the Defense Innovation Unit, the Space Development Agency, and an organization named Space Safari.<\/p>\n

One of these new enterprises is called the Space Rapid Capabilities Office (Space RCO). Headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the office is \u201ccharged with rapidly delivering first-of-their-kind operational space capabilities that protect space assets and defend joint forces from space-enabled attack,\u201d according to a Space Force fact sheet. \u201cThe office is organizationally optimized to deliver space systems on operationally relevant timelines, with the right authorities, structure, and talent required to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Hammett, director of Space RCO, summed it up this way: \u201cWe\u2019re supposed to deliver the \u2018first of\u2019 capabilities that are operationally useful on an accelerated timeline. That\u2019s been very difficult to do. Space acquisition is a hard business for physics reasons, but also for security reasons, for tech-based reasons, supply chain reasons, all kinds of things.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

\u201cMy experience in the last three years as a director of Space RCO is, both internal to our portfolio and across the greater space enterprise, we\u2019ve done a pretty miserable job of delivering, on shorter timelines, the capabilities that we want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kelly Hammett, director of Space RCO since 2022.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n US Air Force<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Earlier this month, Ars attended a Space RCO \u201cpitch day\u201d in Albuquerque. where government officials listened to briefings from 10 companies on how they propose helping future military satellites detect threats against them and potentially escape danger during a war that could extend to or start in space. Space RCO used the event to learn what cutting-edge technologies private space companies are already working on. The companies involved were Active Vigilance, Turion Space, Digantara, Anduril, Geost, Impulse Space, Raptor Dynamix, True Anomaly, TRL11, and BlackVe.<\/p>\n

Officials told Ars this was the first time a journalist has attended one of these Space RCO events. We\u2019ll have another report Friday detailing why the Space Force thinks it needs these capabilities and what the companies proposed. It was an enlightening affair because the government has long kept much of what the Space Force and Space RCO do under wraps.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of what we do is highly classified,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cWe are getting to the point where we are now delivering systems and capabilities, and my ability to talk about some of those things is being restricted a little bit more due to operational security considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, don\u2019t expect an answer to what Satellite X is doing in space right now. However, as Ars has previously reported, the Space Force is getting more comfortable talking about plans for protecting its satellites in orbit, and potentially attacking other spacecraft owned by adversaries. Space assets are already part of the military\u2019s surveillance network, providing early warning, navigation, and secure communications to US and allied forces since the dawn of the Space Age. These are all robotic platforms. The Space Force doesn\u2019t have its own cadre of astronauts.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Out in the open<\/h2>\n

What\u2019s new is, it\u2019s now more fashionable to discuss the prospect of space warfare in public, a rhetorical shift that seemed to take off last year. That doesn\u2019t mean the Space Force is ready to give up the goods. Space RCO\u2019s budget is classified, and it has disclosed only a handful of its programs, such as a new cloud-based architecture to command and control military satellites and an effort to develop portable ground terminals with commercial technology to jam enemy satellite signals.<\/p>\n

Space RCO is modeled on the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, whose programs include the X-37B spaceplane and the B-21 Raider strategic bomber.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Anduril Industries, founded in 2017, will soon add space missions to its existing portfolio of missiles and drones.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Stephen Clark\/Ars Technica<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cA lot of what I do is not disclosable in the public until we make a shift, which the department is in the process of,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cWe\u2019ll take the lead from this administration. \u2026 We\u2019re, as a department and as a service, working through how can we talk about more of this stuff more publicly. But we don\u2019t have all that guidance in effect. So that can hamstring some of the conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Space Force\u2019s greater openness and an appetite for cost-cutting are combining to imperil the grip of the nation\u2019s major defense contractors. If programs aren\u2019t as secret, space companies don\u2019t need the highest security clearances to bid on contracts. And many of these startups are backed by wealthy founders or venture capital.<\/p>\n

The question Hammett asks today is: Why should the government pay for something billionaires are already funding?<\/p>\n

While SpaceX led the way in revolutionizing the commercial launch business, a new wave of companies is vying to supply the military with missiles, interceptors, surveillance data, and, as Ars learned at the recent Space RCO pitch day, sensors, propulsion, and space-based AI to shield satellites from attack.<\/p>\n

Unafraid of the blade<\/h2>\n

The 10 companies that participated in the recent pitch day are relative newcomers to the space industry. All but one are under eight years old, and most have fewer than 200 employees.<\/p>\n

In preparation for the event, Hammett said his office culled a list of 62 interested companies down to 10. The initial list included small firms and traditional military contractors, often called \u201cdefense primes\u201d in the arcane world of government acquisition. While Hammett didn\u2019t name those companies, chances are you\u2019ve heard of them. For reference, the Pentagon\u2019s five largest contractors are Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and Boeing.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those traditional primes opted out of this event, every single one,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cWe\u2019re cultivating an A-team who\u2019s willing to work with us, who\u2019s hungry, who wants to bring affordability and speed, and it\u2019s not the existing industry base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammett\u2019s office didn\u2019t set out to banish the big defense contractors. Simply put, he said they haven\u2019t performed or aren\u2019t interested in going in the direction Space RCO wants to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve terminated 11 major contracts in less than three years,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cEighty-five percent of those were with traditional defense primes.\u201d Most of these programs are classified, so it doesn\u2019t become news when a contract is canceled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to fix the programs,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cWe work with the performers, but if they can\u2019t get right, and if we have program baselines where they\u2019re now exceeding it by 100 percent in cost or schedule\u2026 we\u2019re going to fire them and start again.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, venture-backed companies seem to emerge every day from the ether of Silicon Valley or one of the nation\u2019s other tech corridors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of opportunity to bring other performers into the portfolio, but there are lots of barriers,\u201d Hammett said. One of those barriers is that leadership at many startups don\u2019t have a security clearance. Many small companies don\u2019t use the certified accounting systems the government usually requires for federal contracts. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be willing to modify your approach, your acquisition strategies, those types of things, so I have directed my team to open the aperture, to find the A-team, wherever the A-team lives, because it doesn\u2019t seem to be in our current portfolio,\u201d Hammett said.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Space Force has launched three generations of GPS satellites capable of broadcasting a jam-resistant military-grade navigation signal, but ground system delays have kept US forces from fully adopting it. This image shows a GPS III satellite at Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lockheed Martin<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

There\u2019s still a place for the Pentagon\u2019s incumbent contractors, according to Hammett. Small companies like the ones at Space RCO\u2019s pitch lack the national, or even global, footprint to execute the military\u2019s most expensive programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to build the first of something new, different, at a price point that we can accept,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cThat\u2019s what these types of companies are trying to do. And we\u2019re not having to pay the lion\u2019s share of the cost for that because VC [venture capital] firms and others are kick-starting them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Executives at Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and other traditional defense companies have become warier of bidding on government programs, especially fixed-price contracts where financial risk is transferred from the government to the contractor.<\/p>\n

The CEO of L3Harris, another established defense contractor, said in 2023 that his company has also declined to bid on fixed-price development contracts. L3Harris leads development of a software system called ATLAS to manage data from a network of sensors tracking rocket launches and objects in orbit. The program is over budget and was supposed to be ready for action in 2022, but it still isn\u2019t operational.<\/p>\n

RTX is in charge of another troubled military space program. The Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as OCX, is designed to allow military forces, including airplanes, ships, and ground vehicles, to access a jam-resistant GPS signal that satellites have been beaming from space since 2005. Twenty years later, the military\u2019s weapons systems still haven\u2019t widely adopted this M-code signal because of OCX delays.<\/p>\n

Both programs are managed by Space Systems Command, the unit that has traditionally been responsible for buying hardware and software for military space programs. SSC, too, hasn\u2019t shied away recently from taking the hatchet to some problem projects. Last year, SSC confirmed it kicked RTX off a program to develop three next-generation missile warning satellites because it was over budget, behind schedule, and faced \u201cunresolved design challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

\u201cOur traditional defense primes are not doing well,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cThese programs have sucked for about 12 or 15 years, and they just keep getting more money and more time. We can\u2019t do that. The leadership is finally taking action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running lean<\/h2>\n

The Defense Department formed Space RCO in 2018 to replace an office called Operationally Responsive Space (ORS), which launched a handful of relatively low-cost missions to demonstrate how launch, reconnaissance, and communications tech could be responsive to real-time tactical military needs. In many ways, ORS was ahead of its time. Its missions focused on supporting US forces on the ground, in the air, or at sea. Now, the military applies many of the tenets ORS started pursuing nearly 20 years ago, with an eye toward applying them to combat in space.<\/p>\n

Space RCO is a lean operation, with around 50 civilian officials, 20 uniformed military employees, and roughly 200 contractors under Hammett\u2019s command. He said the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to cut the federal workforce could have a disproportionate impact on small organizations like Space RCO. Hammett said his office hasn\u2019t yet lost any probationary employees\u2014as many federal agencies have\u2014but a handful of Space RCO employees took the Trump administration\u2019s offer for deferred resignation. These workers were among the 21,000 civilians at the Defense Department who volunteered for the program. Pentagon officials seek to slash 5 to 8 percent of the department\u2019s overall civilian workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of my government workforce are federal civilians, and it\u2019s having an effect,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cI\u2019m losing people, and I cannot hire people back because we\u2019re under a hiring freeze.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Space Force\u2019s annual budget last year was approximately $29 billion, about 3.5 percent of the Pentagon\u2019s overall budget. Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force under President Biden, said last year that the Space Force\u2019s budget is \u201cgoing to need to double or triple over time\u201d to fund everything the military needs to do in space.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has not released its budget request for fiscal year 2026, but Washington is bracing for cuts. The Pentagon\u2019s enormous budget is not likely to be spared. \u201cOur job is to take the resources we get and build the best Space Force we can,\u201d said Gen. Chance Saltzman, the top general in the Space Force.<\/p>\n

Although most of the details are classified, Hammett contends that Space RCO punches above its weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have\u2026 billion-dollar programs that are run by seven people,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cIf you go to the rest of the DOD, you\u2019ll have a program office of 500 people to run one of those programs. We\u2019re very lean, and we are therefore inordinately impacted when we lose one, two, or three people, and we can\u2019t backfill.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on the military\u2019s secretive Space Rapid Capabilities Office. ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico\u2014For decades, America\u2019s big defense contractors have known they can count on a steady flow of business from the Pentagon. You win some, and you lose some. But don\u2019t fret. Inevitably, there\u2019s a new opportunity to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[257,332],"class_list":["post-44381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-military-space","tag-space-force"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}