What’s in this episode
This episode is dedicated to the latest edition of the “State of The Space Industrial Base Report”. It is a unique take on space and national security, and it has just been published jointly by the U.S. Space Force, the Defense Innovation Unit, and the Air Force Research Laboratory.
I really cannot recommend it enough. It is the go-to guide for policy makers who wish to understand what members of the commercial space sector are passionate about and their concerns for the future.
This edition of the State of the Space Industrial Base comes at the very time when the Secretary of the Department of the Air Force Frank Kendall and Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman have been testifying before Armed Services and Appropriations subcommittees in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The topic has been the President’s Budget Request For FY 2025.
As I have said before, Kendall and Saltzman are in a tough position, because they must give legislators ground truth on China’s growing tactical advances, while also defending a budget proposal that the secretary has admitted will slow down Space Force modernization.
This report gives some unvarnished truth from the commercial sector’s perspective. It is the product of workshops held in locations near the space industrial base in states like California, Washington, and Florida.
If you are interested in attending one, the next State of the Space Industrial Base workshop is this May, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is organized and hosted by New Space Nexus.
Thank you to our generous sponsor, TE Connectivity!
Who’s in this episode
Maj. Gen. Steve “Bucky” Butow - Space Portfolio Director, Defense Innovation Unit’s; Co-Author of the “State of the Space Industrial Base Report”
Peter Garretson, Senior Fellow, American Foreign Policy Council; and Co-Author of the book “The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy”
Some interesting reading
1 - “China Is Battening Down For The Gathering Storm Over Taiwan”, by Mike Studeman is a very well executed and sobering piece, that weaves together a number of strategic indicators. Studman is the former commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence and director for intelligence (J2) of the Indo-Pacific Command and is now MITRE’s first national security fellow.
2 - ICYMI: The Wall Street Journal’s investigative piece “The Black Market That Delivers Elon Musk’s Starlink to U.S. Foes” details how “The satellite-internet devices are helping Russian fighters in Ukraine and paramilitary forces in Sudan; SpaceX hasn’t shut them off.” This is a team effort that has produced deep reporting and great writing by Thomas Grove, Nicholas Bariyo, Micah Maidenberg, Emma Scott, and Ian Lovett.
The team writes, “Sudanese authorities have contacted SpaceX and requested help in regulating the use of Starlink, including by allowing the military to turn off service areas where it was helping the RSF. Starlink never responded to the request, Sudanese officials said.”
So this week, on April 24, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America filed a 13-page brief with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), opposing “the allocation of additional spectrum to SpaceX.” A shorter version can be read here on Yahoo!Finance.
Ad Astra,
Laura
