Congress has long lamented the timelines and costs associated with acquiring space hardware.1 For the Sea Services to dominate an Indo-Pacific scenario, it will be crucial for them to leverage all capabilities, including those from space. It is hard to envision an engagement that would not rely heavily on space capabilities. Space-based capabilities enable beyond-visual-range engagement for fires and over-the-horizon communications between dispersed units and are a vital part of the submarine fleet’s communication architecture.
The relationship between the space community and the Sea Services is crucial to U.S. national defense, and it starts with the acquisitions process. The Sea Services must find the best space-based solutions and layer them into existing and future capabilities. Robust interoperability is achieved by providing access for Sea Service decision-makers to classified space systems and improving the speed with which space technologies are procured.
Improving Interoperability
The following recommendations will improve interoperability between the Sea Services and the space-based systems community and the timeliness of the acquisition process.
Increase access to classified space programs. Historically, U.S. space programs have been highly classified.2 Under previous administrations, Presidents wanted to conceal U.S. military space programs behind the cover of nonaggressive civilian programs. This was deliberate and provided a diametric narrative to the military programs of the Soviet Union. Today, the programs are still highly classified. Unfortunately, the high classification level of space programs means those involved in the requirements-generation process for non-space-based programs may have no idea what systems exist to enhance their capabilities.
Department of the Navy personnel involved in the requirements-generation process must understand what is available to them in the space domain. Once these personnel (such as Navy resource officers on the Chief of Naval Operations staff) have access to classified space systems, they can outline the need for a weapon system to leverage spaced-based capabilities early in the requirements-generation process. Explicitly defining a space-interoperability requirement for a program early in its life cycle will ensure classified barriers can continue to be removed as the program matures and more personnel require access.
Open Architecture
The acquisition process historically has been slow. It levied the same process and timeline on all technologies, regardless of complexity and size. However, as technology advanced in a nonlinear fashion, it became apparent that traditional defense acquisition practices could not keep pace. The recognition of this shortcoming produced recent changes to the acquisitions process in the form of updates to the Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 5000 document series. Specifically, DoDI 5000.02 introduces the operation of the Adaptive Acquisition Framework (AAF), a “set of acquisition pathways to enable the [Department of Defense (DoD)] workforce to deliver better solutions faster.”3 The AAF allows the system commands (i.e., Naval Air Systems Command or Naval Sea Systems Command) to tailor their acquisition game plan to deliver products to the fleet quickly while bypassing unnecessary reviews and paperwork.
The AAF is an excellent step in expediting the acquisition process. However, an opportunity remains to further improve the timeliness of the process. In general, capabilities or technologies that prioritize open architecture and provide the government with ownership of data rights can provide an even more expedient acquisition timeline no matter what AAF pathway is used.
Use open architecture. The government has been implementing modular and open-systems architectures (MOSA) since the 1990s. In addition, the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes provisions to mandate MOSA requirements for all new major defense acquisition programs. Emphasizing MOSA aims to reduce cost, reduce time to field, and improve interoperability by simplifying the technical challenges of integrating systems acquired from different vendors. MOSA is a step in the right direction and can help bridge the gap between the Sea Services and the space community.
Ensure government-owned data rights. In addition to MOSA, the FY2021 NDAA bolsters the government’s negotiating position to seek improved data rights.4 Government-owned data rights often cause much consternation—they are costly to obtain, difficult to negotiate, and industry is reluctant to relinquish. However, if the government wants to update and modify systems as threats mature, it must be willing to pay for data rights early in the acquisition of a program. The alternative is prolonged contract negotiations to refresh technology at the expense of both time and readiness posture. Possessing data rights gives DoD flexibility late in a product’s life cycle to quickly resurrect an old piece of technology and modernize it to counter evolving threats.
To best leverage space-based capabilities, all DoD personnel involved in the acquisitions process need to understand what space-based capabilities are available and when. With flat budgets and peer adversaries continuing to advance, the Sea Services and all participants in the requirements process must have the intellectual curiosity to think differently about the problem to find creative solutions. Done successfully, the United States can leverage the full extent of its capabilities to ensure continued technological superiority.
1. Government Accountability Office, “Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives,” GAO-19-482T, 03 April 2019, 1; Government Accountability Office, “DOD Space Acquisition and Oversight,” GAO-16-592R, 27 July 2016, 1.
2. Nathan Strout, “Barrett, Rogers Considers Declassifying Secretive Space Programs,” Defense News, 7 December 2019.
3. Defense Acquisition University, “Adaptive Acquisition Framework.”
4. Government Publishing Office, “House Resolution (H.R.) 6395: Fiscal Year 21 National Defense Authorization Act, 1 January 2021, 348.
