The Challenge and Opportunity of Reduced Defense Spending in Space
The government may well be entering an extended period of reduced spending in
space-based communications, and a new space architecture that ensures continued
American superiority has yet to be defined.
That was the sobering message delivered by Intelsat General President Kay
Sears at a Washington Space Business Roundtable event last week.
In her speech, Kay described the four major cycles in defense spending that
the United States has been through since the end of WWII.
With the planned withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan next year,
and the current budgetary climate on Capitol Hill, she used a chart to show that
the nation is currently heading into a down cycle following a decade-long growth
period that began with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
American superiority in space-based communications networks is not as clear
as it was during the first Gulf war. Other nations now have their own space
capabilities, and many of our nation's satellite constellations are in need of
technological refreshes, she said.
In the current budgetary climate, the buzzwords heard most often are
"affordability," "portfolio optimization," "resiliency" "disaggregated
architectures" Kay told the audience that the commercial space industry welcomes
this kind of attention to getting the most for the taxpayer dollar, since
commercial providers have a proven track record of delivering value. A fiercely
competitive commercial space market demands it.
However, she said that though government officials often use value buzzwords,
the dialogue has been lacking on how commercial companies can help government
customers reduce the costs of the next steps in space. Kay has written in the
past about how government clients are processing the fact that budget realities
have shifted.
