U.S. Air Force Exploring Multiyear Procurement Of Aircraft, Spacecraft
Apex's Factory One production line in Los Angeles can build more than 200 satellites annually, according to the company.
COLORADO SPRINGS—The U.S. Air Force is putting together options to set up a multiyear procurement framework for aircraft and spacecraft development, similar to recent contracts that have been established for munitions replenishment.
The Air Force Department is working with Congress to gain authority for such contracts and has received “really good support from [Capitol] Hill on this,” Secretary Troy Meink said in an April 15 media roundtable at the Space Foundation’s annual Space Symposium here.
The traditional process of procuring one to two initial research-and-development satellite systems and then one additional satellite annually is no longer the model, he said. Companies looking to build satellites for the U.S. Space Force are being asked to design for manufacturability from the start, as Meink anticipates the majority of new satellite programs going forward will have “significant” production runs.
As the U.S. military expects industry partners to commit more upfront investment before contract award, the government needs to provide greater long-term production commitments, Meink said.
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