Praise for Space Acquisition 101:

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The work-so-far by Air Force Undersecretary Ronald Sega to push a straightforward, four-stage space program development cycle—science and technology, technology development, systems development, and then systems production—has won praise from the budget hawks at the Government Accountability Office. Cristina Chaplain, GAO’s acting director of acquisition and sourcing management, acknowledged to lawmakers at a Senate hearing last week Sega’s efforts to emphasize mature technology and fund new acquisitions to an 80 percent confidence level. Sega told the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, “We are emphasizing early technology development to ensure mature technology is available for our production systems.” Citing recent examples of this process, including the STP-R1 “Streak” experimental satellite and the XSS-11microsatellite programs, Sega maintains that the approach should reduce acquisition cycle time and increase stability into production.

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org