Space News:
WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — an organization known for its unconventional approach to solving military problems — has been tasked to help the Pentagon figure out how to organize a new agency focused on space technology development.
The task came from Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin, a staunch advocate of creating a Space Development Agency to spur innovation in military space programs and bring emerging technologies from the private sector into DoD. Griffin has been a vocal critic of the Pentagon’s traditional procurement process and has warned that adversaries like China and Russia are advancing space technology at a much more rapid pace than the United States.
In a Dec. 6 memo titled, “Space Development Agency Study Team Direction and Tasking,” Griffin directed Fred Kennedy, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, to lead a study team and come up with recommendations for the “implementation of the Space Development Agency.”
