WASHINGTON — Despite the Space Force’s growing efforts to acquire commercial technology, products and data, the service is struggling to be able to integrate these capabilities into its day-to-day operations, according to service officials.
“There’s three barriers, at least, for the Space Force that we continually run into for commercial technology integration. The first one is requirements. … The second one is on classification, and the third one is on operational integration,” Col. Tim Trimailo, head of the Space Systems Command’s Commercial Space Office (COMSO), told the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit in Bethesda, Md., on Wednesday.
COMSO is the Space Force’s unit charged with identifying commercial capabilities of interest to the service and helping to speed those capabilities to the field.
Trimailo’s remarks were partially echoed in a report released the same day by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that found “hesitancy” within the service about “purchasing and using commercial space data.” Officials in several key Space Force organizations, including the service’s Combat Forces Command that provides trained operators to US Space Command, told GAO they were reluctant to turn to commercial providers, due to worries about “licensing costs, perceived use restrictions, and concerns over long-term access to the data.”
