Leveraging Commercial Space For National Security

The increasing commercialization of space is presenting new opportunities for national security acquisition. Because of commercial developments in space capabilities, U.S. intelligence and defense agencies are considering alternatives to the traditional model of hiring contractors to develop bespoke capabilities. In this new space era, U.S. space leadership will face many decisions over which acquisition model to use in a particular case. Our national security space enterprise and the commercial space sector are at critical junctures. National security leadership needs to consider the models it wants to use for its next-generation systems and business rules for how to balance them.