More Money for Space War Dominance + Golden Dome + Commercial integration a secret
Posted: 26th March 2025
03/25/2025
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Space & defense brief
Congress adds funding for commercial space services in 2025 bill
Congress added $40 million for commercial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services in the fiscal 2025 spending bill passed earlier this month — COMSO-run portal where companies pitch their products for military use. The program has already drawn over 800 vendors, Kniseley said, helping them connect with the right Pentagon decision-makers and secure investment.
With senior Space Force officials calling for a move away from traditional satellite development programs, Kniseley sees this as a pivotal moment. “It seems that the new administration is very much in the same mindset as we are in COMSO,” he said. “The time is right to really take that next step.”
Space Force will not disclose names of commercial reserve partners
As commercial satellites supporting the U.S. military increasingly become adversary targets, the U.S. Space Force CASR, authorized by Congress after two years in development, is designed to create a commercial satellite reserve the U.S. military can activate in emergencies. Through pre-negotiated contracts, participating companies would guarantee priority access to critical capabilities — such as satellite communications or space domain awareness — without the Pentagon scrambling to secure services in a crisis.
- The first four CASR participants, signed on March 1, specialize in tracking and identifying space objects, a key capability for monitoring adversary activities. Their agreements cover an initial three-month pilot, including participation in the first CASR war game on March 25.
- “The pilot program is essential to execute and exercise our practices and procedures,” Kniseley said, adding that contracts include “surge” options to rapidly scale operations if needed.
Despite its promise, CASR is still ironing out major policy issues — such as denial-of-service clauses that could force companies to suspend services for other customers if the military calls on their assets. That’s raising concerns in industry circles, particularly over compensation for potential wartime losses.
U.S. needs steady hypersonic investment to compete, expert warns
The U.S. must ramp up funding and support for hypersonic weapons development to keep pace with China and Russia, former Pentagon official and hypersonics expert Mark Lewis said.
- Acknowledging the challenge of intercepting hypersonic threats, Lewis emphasized the need for a robust defense network combining space-based sensors and maneuverable interceptors. “A defender trying to stop an aggressor has to be about three times more maneuverable than the thing it’s trying to stop,” he noted.
- Directed energy weapons, such as high-power lasers, could also play a role, potentially blinding an incoming missile’s sensors to prevent it from reaching its target.
- Golden Dome, Lewis cautioned, will need to be a multi-layered system given the likelihood of large-scale salvos rather than isolated attacks. “You really have to continue to explore all these various options before you reach a final system architecture.”
In other news
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed SpaceX CEO and presidential advisor Elon Musk GDMU3Gc65.tzdKVxWe1KJWidYik-kvjKTMUnLN6KKt_Ey.zeZ02Y2kit-lvY2YnbK”>suspension imposed less than two weeks ago amid growing diplomatic tensions between Washington and Kyiv over a GDMU3Gc65.tzdKVxWe1KJWidYik-kvjKTMUnLN6KKt_Ey.zeZ02Y2kit-~lvY2YnbM”>confirmed that Ukraine has regained access to the commercial satellite imagery platform that has been a crucial component of its intelligence-gathering capabilities since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
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