Air Force Space Pitch Day closing ceremony. The two-day event hosted by the U.S. Air Force to demonstrate the Air Force’s willingness and ability to work with non-traditional startups. The “Day 1 Closing Ceremony” announced a few (12) companies awarded a contract at the time, a total of 16 companies were awarded by the end of day.
Featured keynote speakers on stage, in order of appearance:
Capt. Jason Lowery
Lead Action Officer, Combat Development Division, 14th Air Force
Brig. Gen. Matthew Wolfe Davidson
Vice Commander, 14th Air Force, Air Force Space Command
Producer:
Walter Talens
Public Affairs, SMC
Transcript
Our culture was different because of the 60 years of successful space operations and enterprise that we’d had before. So I said it’s important, the successful 60 years. It’s easy, when you lose the battle constantly, to realize that you need cannons. It’s hard, when you’ve won every combat engagement before you to realize that your weapon may not be the best one on the battlefield. And that’s where we’re at right, as we go through this. The thing that I learned most out of the armor-piercing round issue, was that I was not prepared as an operational commander, to own my part of developing that new capability. So I grabbed a bunch of operators, and we stood up to that point what became called as Combat Development Divisions. And it was really the aspect of I realized that today, the way that technology changes things, that operators have to be completely invested in this. Because the labs, the engineers, the scientists, all wanted to talk to operators. The developers, the acquirers, they all wanted to talk to operators. And I had ’em all. And we found that the best way to do that was to carve them out, in your organization, so that you had a group of operators who had one foot on the battlefield, and one foot in the development lane. And their purpose was to facilitate this transaction, and meet the requirements of all these folks who are trying to develop the next generation of capability, and keep it grounded in today, and recognize that there’s trades between short term and long term. So when I walked into the first meeting I was in with General Thompson, I heard him say, “We need to know what the war fighters need, “we need access to the war fighters’ capabilities.” And of course, I’m 14th Air Force, I said, “Who does that?” And the answer was, we really didn’t have an organization to do that. So we stood up the combat development divisions, General Whiting made the decision, and instituted our own manpower, the wings and groups that are sitting here, they’ll tell you they don’t have any manpower for it, they just did it with the people they had, to try to answer the question, “How do we bring operators into the conversation?” Into this team, of requirements, builders, acquirers, developers, and operators, to get the right answer. Because that is where our solutions come from. It wasn’t just that the war fighting piece had changed as we go through this, in my mind the real trifecta of things that are happening right now, that make this such a critical, critical time, is that one, we certainly we know we have have an adversary that is attempting ,in all different ways, to impact what we do. There is no question when you look at what our competitors, China and Russia, are doing with direct-ascent anti-satellite weapons, there are not many dual-purposeness needs for that. There’s no question, when you look at some of the things that they’re doing, in orbit, and on orbit, and testing and evaluating, that they are developing, what appears to a SOF operator, that some of these things are armor-piercing bullets. All right. So my response is, becomes the same, alright? What are we doing about that? We’re unwilling to let them take away our strategic advantage, so we have to evolve to execute that. Beyond the adversary, the other two elements, the second one is, just the technical revolution that we’re in today, in the digital age, and the opportunity that digital transformation has to the capability development that we never had in the past. And it’s an acknowledgment of what that role is, and how rapidly that is changing. And the third thing is the growth of the commercial space industry. There is just things today, that we can buy, and that others are doing, better than the Department is doing, that traditionally in the past would be only a Department of Defense type activity. Those three things have changed the nature of how we have to operate in, because the adversary is in those bottom two environments as well, and just as they’re going to to adapt, we have got to out-adapt them in that mode. For me, that’s what this event is about. Trying to counter that trifecta of capabilities. And as General Thompson has pulled this team of teams together to do it, I think that’s where the real opportunity is. When I look at the characteristics, because we’re seeking something, right? We’re not just all here for activity. I know everybody has an objective. If you’re a small business owner, you’re here to try to grow your business, and try to get investment, and be successful with the charter that you’ve laid out. If you’re from the 50th Space Wing, you’re here to identify new capabilities to make you successful in the face of the adversary. But the attribute that I seek in the Space Operations, is agility. As I’ve spent a lot of time looking through the history of the characteristics with both military formations, there’s none, in my mind, that has been more relevant than agility. Our ability to determine what’s gonna happen in three years or five years, and understand destructive technologies or destructive adversaries, those things is proven to be very unreliable. The way you buy down the rest of that is to create the agility and the force, so that the decisions you have to make for the long term are mitigated by your ability to change if you have to. But agility doesn’t come cheaply and it doesn’t come with efficiency. Which is why we’re here today, right? And I think we’ve given over $15 million dollars or something already in some things. And there’s questions, like, “Is somebody else doing that?” Hell of a question, but not a reason to stop doing something. The basis of our nation is our competition. We have elections that are on competition. Our capitalist approach is the fundamental basis of our democracy is on competition. It’s good that you should always know somebody else is doing something. And you may want to stop if they’re doing it better than you. But you shouldn’t stop just because somebody else is doing it. That leads to big decisions, though, associated with how we use our limited resources. And that’s the opportunity, we pull these teams together with the experts who are identifying and solving these problems that were out there. You know, I’ve always found it odd that when I talk to industry partners they always say, “Hey, tell me what you really want.” I’m like, why do they not know what I want? I’m telling you, we want you to know what we want. ‘Cause I want you to spend your intellectual capacity focused on my problems. And I want the investors here, I want you focused and your resources on my problems So, if you go upstairs to the Combat Development Division section, they’ll tell you, in every Air Force Operational Space Wing what they want. Publicly, we want you to know. We want you to know what we want, because we are all solving the same problem in the end. Our problem is your problem. ‘Cause our problem is competition with an alternate way of life. And that life doesn’t value any of the things that we are here today to value. It doesn’t value self-determination. It doesn’t value capitalist approach to business. It doesn’t value the individual belief and understanding of a better life on the other side. We are all in this together, because this does not exist in our competitors’ world. It is a real fight. It is a real threat. I do want to talk briefly to our adversary that’s out there. ‘Cause they don’t give the SOF operator the mic very much, but when we do, we always wanna talk to our adversary. (audience laughing) And I understand there’s maybe one or two in here. Or at least their agents are. So, our message is very clear. Is that, it would be far better in your interests to spend your money on the welfare of your people than to try to challenge the peaceful use of space. Because, we can’t let you win. Hey, it is tied to what we do and we’re not gonna let you win. And if you fall into the fool’s trap of thinking you actually have that advantage somewhere down the road, it could cost you more than your nation’s treasure. Because, we, The United States, has the greatest and most capable, the most complex and the most powerful space enterprise in the world. And we have to. And we have to because of the things that we provide from space that all of you know so well. The peaceful existence of the planet is based on the fact that we will not have a nuclear exchange with another nation state that is reliant on the missile warning, the missile defense and nuclear command and control capabilities of our space enterprise. No nation will ever believe that they could fire nuclear weapons at The United States or our allies and succeed. And that is what will prevent nuclear war for the current United States and it’s our space enterprise that provides that. The world is dependent on precision navigation and timing from our GPS enterprise. Our astronauts are reliant on the human space flight support and the rescue and recovery capabilities the we provide to ’em. Our joint force is absolutely the best in the world. Our combined force is the best that the planet has ever seen, because of the ability to tie together satellite communications and communicate across our force. All of those things. And we absolutely are so committed to the peaceful use of space that we will tell our adversaries when their satellite is gonna get run into another satellite or piece of space junk. Because we are actively and fully committed to the safe and peaceful use of space. We have to be the best because of those things. Because we will be better than anyone else. We will be more committed to the maintenance of that capability and the advancement of that capability than anyone else. The reality is we are the best, but that’s not relevant. What’s relevant is that our adversaries are challenging us and we have to get better. ‘Cause if you go back to the gun fight scenario, good enough is never an answer that you want someone to answer when you go, “Are you ready for the gun fight?” “Have you had enough training?” “I’ve had enough.” I’m telling you, if I line this side up and this side up and say, “Hey, you two groups are gonna all duel tomorrow.” How many of you would say, “You pick my gun for you”? Or how many would say, “I’d like to pick my own weapon”? How many would say, “I’d like to pick my own weapon”? (audience laughing) How many of you would blow off the rest of the meetings today and go train a little bit with that weapon? (audience laughing) Right. There is no good enough when the essence of our nation is at stake. And that’s what is relied upon in our space enterprise. So, we will be successful. We will continue to advance. And it’s because of teams and in particular the team of teams that is in this chart that General Thompson’s pulled together. The team of developers and engineers and scientists that are constantly committed to finding the greatest and best ways of technology to bring it forward. And to bring it forward to this, the people who are gonna defend your right to go solve that and make sure it happens. You have investors and private investors and venture capitalists that are not only looking out for their best interests, but they’re looking out for the best interests of the country, because they thrive in an environment where we create to do this. It’s based on the very capabilities that we pride. We succeed because of the requirements developers and the acquirers. The best acquirers in the world are gonna develop and build the best capability in the world. And we will continue to thrive and succeed, because we will hand that capability to operators. But when faced beak to beak with the adversary, we’ll find a way to win every time. And that’s this team. And that, in my mind, is what this is about these couple days. It’s about bringing this team together that doesn’t start yesterday morning and end tonight. It’s about the continued evolution of this team to develop capabilities to stay ahead of any adversary that thinks they can challenge The United States and other peace-loving countries’ ability to sustain our way of life as we go forward. I can tell you, there is not a more exciting time to be doing that in space than right now. I would offer that not since the ’60s and the space race has there been as much national focus and commitment on space as there is today. I doubt that there’s been much growth that as much any time there’s been a higher growth of investment. When there’s been a higher focus at the national level. When there’s been more commitment from both the Department, the commercial industry, as well as the thought leaders across our nation. So, this is a really, really exciting time to be doing this. Not because the bad stuff that I said, because we’re required to, because this is really exciting and opportune stuff. And I think our future just is as exciting as it was for those who grew up in the ’60s and watched Neil Armstrong and the Apollo team land on the moon. But, we’re gonna continue to grow this capability. We’re gonna continue to find a way that The United States and our allies can use space in incredible ways. And it’s because of the team like this. Sir, the clock has hit zero. I appreciate the opportunity to speak for the space operators out there today. And I just say thanks again for all that your team has done, not only developed (muffled speaking) for our force, but to pull this together. And thank everybody for coming today. Thank you. (applause)