US Expanding Private Sector Partnerships To Keep Up In Space - Air Force Secretary

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2020) The US Department of Defense is expanding its partnerships with private industry in the high tech sector to speed up the development of military systems in space, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett told a Chamber of Commerce Space Launch conference on Tuesday.

"We are very much expanding our commercial suppliers," Barrett said. "All need to be flying and fielding faster... The system was built for the old gears age and we have to move at the speed of electrons for the new age."

The new military-private sector development partnerships covered the areas of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), data analytics, communications, navigation, alert systems and missile warning, the Air Force secretary said.

Chief of Space Operations General John "Jay" Raymond said his force was working to "leverage" the resources and more rapid turnaround capabilities of the private sector to an unprecedented degree.

The US Space Force, he added, would rely more heavily on commercial providers for such activities as space domain awareness and in-orbit servicing of systems as well as the more traditional fields of commercial cooperation such as launch activities and satellite communications (SATCOM).