Tom McIntyre

I agree with Tim Trimailo and Scott Sadler: the establishment of a United States Space Force Working Capital Fund is a major step forward. To understand why, see my in-depth paper with Nate Skvoretz of the power of Working Capital Funds to develop Spacepower. https://lnkd.in/eCmjFv87

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The CSA's Space Technology Development Program (STDP) aims to strengthen industrial capabilities (new concepts, products and/or know-how) related to basic R&D of space technologies (space application segment). The following activities are not eligible as they are or will be supported through other funding opportunities: Applications related to developing earth observation data processing solutions, eligible through CSA's smartEarth initiative. Development of space-related medical technologies. Development of prospecting and In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) related technologies. Development of space-related food production technologies. Development of space-related life support systems. Technologies already funded by CSA through another contract, contribution, or grant. Projects aiming at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) higher than TRL-6 are not eligible.

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Good tips for SBIR proposals. See below.

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Thrilled to see widespread industry support for funding the Office of Space Commerce space traffic management mission. The companies represented by the industry associations that signed this letter span all sectors of the space industry -- companies big and small, traditional and non-traditional, operators, manufacturers, suppliers, and more. All share an interest in maintaining a safe and secure space operating environment for the satellites that ultimately serve us here on Earth. The United States Space Force and U.S. Space Command also have an interest in keeping TraCSS on track. For years, DoD has been the de-facto global crossing guard for space -- providing warning of potential collisions to commercial and international satellite operators. But DoD space domain awareness systems are more urgently needed to monitor space threats -- which are also growing at an alarming rate. Funding TraCSS allows DoD to relieve itself from a mission that never should have been its responsibility in the first place. Finally -- the international rules of the road for space are being set literally as we speak. Just last week, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (guided ably by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)) agreed to establish an international expert group to make recommendations on global SSA coordination. The United States will have a seat at this table one way or another, but if we don't have a national space traffic coordination system our voice will be drowned out by those that do. Does the United States want the default language of international space traffic coordination to be English, like it is for air traffic control, or are we content to have the space traffic controllers of the future speak French or Mandarin? TraCSS is often criticized for getting off to a slow start. And it did -- because it took 5 years from policy inception to funding (not uncommon in the policy world!). But now, just ~18 months after the funding was in place, TraCSS is months from becoming operational. In fact, its initial release is already being beta tested by a group of satellite operators, and Commerce has big plans for future releases that leverage the innovation and investment of the commercial SSA industry. Now is not the time to undo almost a decade of work on civil space traffic management. Let's #KeepTraCSSonTrack.

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The War Department has issued a request for information to industry, seeking the capacity to produce 𝟑𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎+ 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭. This marks the next phase of Secretary Pete Hegseth’s push to achieve “𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞”—a cornerstone of the president’s defense modernization agenda. Key elements of the program: · 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 & 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝: Four production “gauntlets” over two years, starting February 2026. · 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬: Driving unit costs down from $5,000 to $2,300 per drone. · 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: Leveraging private capital and flexible contracting to grow U.S. manufacturing capacity. · 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Drones embedded into force-on-force training and doctrine, with a “fight tonight” philosophy. · 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: $1 billion from the Big Beautiful Bill to deliver ~340,000 drones by 2027. Implication for defense contractors: · A 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥 means predictable, long-term investment in drone production capacity. · 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 will be tested and strengthened as industry scales to meet unprecedented volume. · 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬 will require contractors to align not just on hardware, but on training, integration, and sustainment. As Hegseth noted, “We cannot afford to shoot down cheap drones with $2 million missiles.” The new era of 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 demands innovation, agility, and cost discipline across the defense industrial base. #DefenseContractors #DroneDominance #NationalSecurity #DefenseIndustry #UnmannedSystems #MilitaryInnovation https://vist.ly/4hyd7

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