Breaking Defense:
Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), both oft-criticized and widely admired builder of America’s military satellites and missiles, will become part of a defense-wide Space Development Agency boasting “extraordinary authorities to move quickly and efficiently,” according to the Air Force plan for a Space Force.
The other vital nugget in the 16-page memo from the office of Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson is that the new Space Force and Space Command will cost an estimated $3.32 billion their first year, rising to $12.92 billion over the first five-year FYDP.
Here’s how SMC will get those extraordinary authorities. First, it will be moved, along with “elements of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and elements of Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command,” to the new Space Development Agency. The SDA will essentially be the recently established Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, “already given special authorities and exemptions by Congress to rapidly develop space capabilities.”
