Space Force Has a Tough Problem to Tackle.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Editor's Notes

The United States Space Force!

(Queue up the dramatic music.)

Able to defend and protect America's vital space-based assets!

Able to quickly develop and deploy cutting-edge technology!

Able to lead the free world in space and counter rivals Russia and China!

Able to align the development and fielding of satellite systems with their corresponding Earth-based terminals in order to deliver efficiencies to warfighters and savings for taxpayers!

Hey, wait. What was that last one?

That last one has been a problem with military space systems since their beginnings.

The basic problem is that the Air Force--and for one notable Navy communications satellite--develops a new state-of-the art space system, launches the platforms into space, but the terminals and ground stations that connect them to aircraft, ground vehicles and ships have not yet been fully fielded. The individual services are responsible for developing and fielding these terminals, not the Air Force space enterprise, which just builds the satellites and contracts with a company to launch them.

This lack of synchronization has cost the military dearly over the years and it's a problem no one ever seems to claim as their own or has taken a serious whack at solving.

Maybe this is a job for the proposed United States Space Force!

Of course, to solve a problem, there has to be some admission that there is a problem. National Defense has brought this conundrum up at press conferences over the years, but has never heard an official admit that what they have is basically an orbiting white elephant--at least until the services get around to fielding their terminals.

"Well, we have added a legacy payload to the new spacecraft so warfighters can connect their old radios to the new satellite," they answer.

But the taxpayers didn't pony up $489 million, or so, per satellite to send 1970s era technology into space.

Another factor to consider is that satellites have finite lives. Space is a harsh environment and the wear and tear means they last 10 or 15 years. Occasionally, they survive a little longer, but the Air Force just can't pull them out of service, send them to Tobyhanna Depot, clean them up and launch them out again. If the terminals arrive four years late, those are years the operator will never get back and are ultimately a waste.

And, by the way, putting a satellite into "cold storage" and waiting for the terminals to be fielded is an equally expensive proposition, experts have said. So...