Photo By Triantaphilia Nicole Elisseos | During the first facilitated ‘Acquisition Day on the Hill,’ U.S. Space Force...... read more read more
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Several hundred Congressional staffers converged in the Rayburn Foyer on Capitol Hill to learn more about space acquisition and its critical importance to national security during the U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) inaugural ‘Acquisition Day on the Hill’ event May 2.
“A major goal of this event was to facilitate an opportunity for Congressional staff and Space Force personnel to engage in real-time and to increase awareness of the missions the Space Force acquisition community is supporting,” said Sophia Li, a congressional affairs liaison for Space Systems Command (SSC).
The event featured representatives from a cross section of key USSF acquisition organizations, including staff from the Space Force Acquisition Office, SSC, the Space Rapid Capabilities Office (SpRCO), and the Space Development Agency (SDA).
The event showcased exhibits representing key mission areas, included extensive presentations on space acquisition methods, and highlighted they key role of collaboration in delivering capabilities to the warfighter faster, more efficiently, and more cost effectively.
“Collaborating with academia and commercial enterprises, buying off-the-shelf, and partnering with allied nations are all ways in which we are supplementing the traditional ‘custom-build’ models to deliver capabilities more quickly,” Li said.
In opening remarks for the event, Hon. Frank Calvelli, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, drove the point home.
“Our focus continues to be on speed and delivering systems on cost and schedule to get new capabilities into the hands of our warfighters and transform our space architecture to be more proliferated and resilient,” said Calvelli, who has more than 34 years of experience in national security space acquisitions, operations, and leadership in the National Reconnaissance Office and the Central Intelligence Agency.
The event was attended by leaders and staff from Congress, the Department of Defense, other federal agencies, and military and civil service personnel from the U.S. Space Force, known as ‘Guardians.’
“Notably, congressional staff took the time to engage with our Guardians and have meaningful conversations,” Li said. “The feedback from Congressional staff was great; they were thankful for the opportunity. We were able to engage with staff who are long time space advocates and develop many new ones.”
Part of the event included booths and presentations from a variety of SSC organizations, including Weather, Missile Warning and Missile Tracking (MW/MT), Space Command and Control (Space C2), Launch, Space Mobility and Launch (SML), Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT), Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM), Operationally Responsive Space (OTTI), and Space Domain Awareness. Additionally, SSC showcased its cutting-edge holosats, providing an interactive experience for attendees and staff, and were briefed by Guardians in the International Affairs (IA) and Commercial Space Office (CSO) organizations about the importance of these efforts to the Force’s missions.
“We firmly believe the more exposure for our Guardians to the Hill the stronger of a relationship we will have on the Hill,” Li said. “We are establishing the culture for how the Space Force will work with the Hill today, which we expect will have a lasting positive impact.”
| Date Taken: | 06.03.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 06.07.2024 18:56 |
| Story ID: | 473409 |
| Location: | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 90 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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