Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear is exploring commercial satellite deorbiting services to reduce costs and streamline the agency’s satellite development process. The strategy would eliminate the need for redundant propulsion systems on satellites, saving money and allowing the SDA to take more risks with innovative satellite designs, DefenseScoop reported. Tournear, a past Wash100 awardee […]
The Air Force Research Laboratory recently hosted a competition to increase awareness of STEM, aviation and aerospace among Ohio middle and high school students, ensuring the next-generation workforce is capable of addressing future defense challenges. Brenda Ronnebaum, project manager for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Educational Outreach Office, said that the For Inspiration and Recognition […]
William LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, has approved the Milestone C/Full Rate Production for the F-35 Lightning II following a series of tests. LaPlante, a 2024 Wash100 awardee and a past Potomac Officers Club speaker, issued the approval after the F-35 completed its combined initial operational test and evaluation, live fire test […]
Gen. Chance Saltzman, the U.S. Space Force‘s chief of space operations, said in an interview on Tuesday that a $600 million reduction in his organization’s fiscal year 2025 budget will not hinder spending on resilient architectures to deliver missile warning, satellite communications and precise navigation capabilities. Saltzman, a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker and […]
The U.S. Department of Defense, which released President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2025 defense budget on Monday, has reduced the allocation for its Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve to $450 million from $687 million in 2024. Established in 2021, RDER is a flagship program of Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu, a Wash100 […]
The Department of Defense’s deputy secretary said the DOD plans to spend around $1 billion on its Replicator program for the fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Kathleen Hicks, a 2024 Wash100 awardee and a past Potomac Officers Club speaker, said the DOD wants to spend around $500 million each fiscal year to reduce technological barriers […]
Doug Bush, the U.S. Army’s assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology, has warned against a multiyear procurement strategy for unmanned systems, citing the technology’s rapid development pace. Typically utilized to acquire munitions, such an approach would allow defense suppliers to ramp up production based on longer-term demand, C4ISRNET reported. Bush, a past Potomac Officers […]
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency have laid down plans to strengthen open source intelligence as a core intelligence discipline and help the United States intelligence community make the most of it. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker and 2024 Wash100 […]
The U.S. Space Force’s Commercial Space Office will provide up to $40 million in grants to commercial companies that can provide GPS satellite alternatives. Col. Richard Kniseley, director of COSMO and a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker, said during the POC 2024 Space Summit that while most space-based navigation capabilities use GPS, the Space […]
The Space Development Agency aims to have its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a “mesh network” of laser communication crosslinks allowing data to move rapidly around the world, completed in 2024 and operational soon. Speaking at a SpaceNews webinar on Wednesday, Derek M. Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency, said that the agency is working […]
