McAleese & Associates has released a report on key takeaways from the remarks of Michael Griffin, undersecretary for research and engineering at the Department of Defense and a 2019 Wash100 award winner, at a Chamber of Commerce event held Tuesday.
Griffin said the Pentagon must have a dedicated proliferated LEO system or constellation of small satellites in low-Earth orbit designed for the existential U.S. survival mission.
He cited DoD’s need for high-speed, low-cost ‘commercial-like’ development and production process and secure platforms that could provide ‘guaranteed communications’ in wartime and ‘guaranteed survival’ in jammed and harsh environments, Jim McAleese, founder and principal at McAleese & Associates and a 2019 Wash100 awardee, wrote in the report.
“There has to be a national security substructure to any future architecture … that can be guaranteed. … We are going to have to invest in the provider … to provide these extra things. … My hope …is to use commercial sector practices…to manufacture the items we need to address national security requirements,†Griffin said. “DoD needs to engage commercial sector contractors, in building to our requirements … but by the methods that the commercial sector can bring.â€
Griffin noted the Space Development Agency is prioritizing the development of a communications transport layer and a surveillance and tracking layer for hypersonic defense.
