Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin’s space business and a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, has said that companies should work to establish a diverse supply chain and marketplace to help the U.S. Space Force address future requirements, SpaceNews reported Monday.
He told attendees at a virtual Air Force Association event that Lockheed has invested in various nontraditional companies specializing in areas such as launch services, artificial intelligence and satellites.
“We really encourage other investments in startups as we move forward to address these future threats in some ways probably we don’t even know about sitting here today,†Ambrose added.
Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance and a former Wash100 awardee, said at the same event that government partners must work on synergy efforts and “articulating what they need†to ensure that contractors and suppliers have the capacity to align offerings with program requirements.
Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center, noted that the Space Force’s creation will help establish new ways of coordinating with the private sector.
“Our adversaries, as you know, are aggressively taking steps that threaten the peaceful use of the global commons of space, and they’re leveraging their nationalized command economies to pursue that goal,†he added.