Why Are The Department Of Defense And Space Force Talking About Buying Foreign Space Technology?

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In its United States Space Force Commercial Space Strategy , released April 8, the United States government discussed buying commercial, foreign-made, off-the-shelf products rather than investing solely in developing and building specific military solutions within the government or by using government contractors. This is a departure from the approach that the U.S. has taken in the past and provides leadership guidance to move in a new direction. And it tells us a number of important things about the space technology market today, and how the U.S. perceives the role that other countries can play in its own space and defense strategy.

First, that the commercial industry beyond the U.S. has reached a level of maturity and viability such that the U.S. government considers foreign products at least as desirable as home-grown ones — something that hasn't always been the case because of historic disparities (and lingering perceived disparities) in technological sophistication. Indeed, at April's Space Symposium, the mood among U.S. Space Force and U.S. Command representatives suggested a real optimism about the state of commercial space worldwide. This is supported by the available data: McKinsey ⁘ Co. valued the space market at approximately $447 billion in 2023 — up from $280 billion in 2010 — and said it could grow to $1 trillion by 2030.

But there is also a growing desire among U.S. decisionmakers for interoperability and scaling with the country's global partners. Looking abroad — and in particular, across the Atlantic to Europe — the U.S. sees real opportunities for synergy, the exchange of information and technology and the forging of stronger alliances. As retired General Joe Votel mentioned in his 2022 speech accepting the R. Lynn Rylander Award from the National Defense Industrial Association, networks have become a key organizing principle behind many recent business successes, from Amazon to Uber. The same must now be achieved for the defense sector. As General Votel said, we must move from "industrial-base thinking" to "network thinking." The National Space Industrial Strategy's approach is one that encourages the development of integrated defense space systems and systems-of-systems from their beginning, and one that integrates the national sovereign assets of American allies into the space enterprise.