Military satellite acquisition has come a long way in the last 10 years, but there is still room for improvement, said Cristina Chaplain, a director of acquisition and sourcing management for the Government Accountability Office. Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces panel Wednesday, Chaplain said the watchdog organization is concerned about the 18 percent increase in the cost of the Air Force’s first two Global Positioning System III satellites. “That’s on our watch list,” she said. She also expressed concerns about the lagging schedule of the FAB-T ground terminals that are designed to work with Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellites. “In general, though, these are very different conditions from 10 years ago,” said Chaplain. “Best practices are being adopted. There is more emphasis on developing technologies before beginning a number of programs, and [the Defense Department] is instituting higher quality standards for programs and following them,” she said. (Chaplain’s prepared testimony)
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.