The House’s annual defense authorization bill would eliminate the two offices within the Pentagon designed to speed up space acquisition.
The chair’s version of the House FY27 National Defense Authorization Act would axe the Space Development Agency (SDA) and Space Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO). The bill is far from a done deal. Members of the House Armed Services Committee will meet on Thursday to mark up the bill, which will also need to be considered and approved by the full House and Senate.
On the chopping block: SDA was established in 2019 as an independent agency. Since then, it’s been working to quickly field commercially built satellites in tranches to boost comms, tracking, and missile-defense capabilities for the military. The office most recently launched Tranche 1 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture transport layer in October, before announcing in March a strategic pause for launching missions while the office worked out some kinks.
The chair’s bill would eliminate the office, and its director, instead giving those authorities to the Space Force portfolio acquisition executive in charge of missile warning and tracking.
The Space RCO, which was established by the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act, is a ~200 person office tasked with getting space systems into troops’ hands quickly.
The bill did not explain the reason for cutting the offices. But it could become a topic of debate when lawmakers mark up the bill this week.
Bonus material: The bill also includes report language—a set of non-binding requests from lawmakers, mostly asking agencies for briefings or reports on specific topics. Space priorities highlighted in the report language include briefings on:
- Cislunar situational awareness;
- Dissemination of commercial EO imagery;
- Partnerships with the commercial space sector;
- Benefits of distributed ground infrastructure;
- Projected natsec launch cadence through 2035;
- Mobility and logistics in orbit.
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Northrop Grumman ($NOC) announced a partnership with Apex yesterday to collaborate on the development of space-based interceptor (SBI) satellites as part of the US Golden Dome missile-defense shield.
Having demonstrated key capabilities through ground tests this year, Northrop Grumman is on track to deliver on-orbit missile defense capabilities with Apex in 2027, according to the announcement.
Autobots, assemble: Northrop Grumman—one of 12 companies selected to build the SBI component of Golden Dome—is the latest defense prime to announce a partnership with the space industry to field its proposal. In May:
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