Defense Sector Sees Opportunity Beyond Budget Cuts
by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief
San Diego, California, January 31, 2012-- In contrast to recent military shows like MILCOM in Baltimore last November and last year’s WEST show, there is more of a cautious optimism over the impending defense budget cuts now that it’s inevitability has more or less sunked in.
As Patrick Rayermann, Senior Director of Strategy and Development of Orbital Sciences said: “not only do we have a real opportunity to grow, but that we can definitely be part of the solution for the “vicious cycle” of excessive development timelines, cost-overruns, the deployment of outdated technology, and a resistance to innovative new business models, such a hosted payloads, that the industry has seen over the past decade or longer. “ (see the full interview with Mr.Rayermann on page 11).
Just before the WEST show, which was held in San Diego, California from January 24-26, 2012 , the US Department of Defense (DoD) released an outline of its Fiscal Year 2013 budget and its long-term plan to reduce spending by US$ 487 billion over the next 10 years. Further cuts of up to US$ 500 million might be mandated in the coming years. Upon closer scrutiny of the proposed cuts, Raymond James and Associates said in its monthly Industry Brief that the DoD budget for satellite programs are “protected” from the cuts and the Pentagon plans to expand its UAV fleet—certainly good news for the satellite industry.
One thing is for certain—it will not be business as usual for both the military and the commercial sector. At the Satellite Industry Association (SIA) Naval and Maritime Commercial SATCOM User’s Workshop held during the WEST show, Rear Admiral Elizabeth M. Young, USN (Ret.), Director of the Engineering Directorate of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) said that the military and government sector has to change its ways of doing business and learn from the commercial sector. “There are a lot of practices and methodologies that are more efficient and cost-effective that can be adopted from the commercial sector by the military and government agencies,” she said.
Vincent Squitieri, Program Manager of Communications Program Office of the US Navy in his presentation at the SIA Workshop affirmed the importance of commercial satcoms for the military. He said that “commercial Satcoms plays a critical role in warfighting arsenal,” and that the Navy will continue to rely on the commercial sector to help continue and improve on current capabilities in bandwidth management systems and its space and terrestrial network.
In the session on “Terminal Technology Developments: COTM on the Horizon” speakers from Hughes, SES Government Solutions and Orbital Sciences tackled issues such as interoperability of the different systems currently in the market. The consensus was there is a need to integrate and make interoperable the diverse systems that the Navy and other military branches use today to reduce costs and increase effectiveness.
At the WEST conference, Rear Adm. Jerry K. Burroughs, USN, program executive officer for C4I, outlined a technology wish list that includes changes in traditional approaches. The government will want full data rights for whatever industry is developing, he said. “The days of government not getting proprietary data rights are over,” he added.
Some of the items on Adm. Burroughs’s wish list include improved two way communications with steerable antenna beams and multibeam antennas; network management technologies for operating in degraded environments; and robust, modular, scalable computer capabilities.
The military and commercial sector has their work cut out for them in the coming years. But it might not be as painful as initially thought.
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Virgil Labrador is the Editor-in-Chief of Satellite Market and Research based in Los Angeles, California. He is the author of two books on the satellite industry and has been covering the industry for various publications since 1998. Before that he worked in various capacities in the industry, including a stint as marketing director for the Asia Broadcast Center, a full-service teleport based in Singapore. He can be reached at virgil@satellitemarkets.com
