Air Force wants industry to streamline space programs

The Air Force’s acquisition chief has called on the space industry to reduce the complexity of space programs, cut launch costs and shorten development times as the military service struggles to deal with a flattening budget from 2012 to 2016, reports Aviation Week.

“There are opportunities for improvement across the space portfolio,” Air Force Service Acquisition Executive David Van Buren said this week at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space 2011 Conference and Exhibition in Long Beach, Calif. “Programs are too complex, take too long to develop and launch [and] cost too much.”

Among the Air Force’s most immediate space acquisition priorities are the ongoing support of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite program, the Space-based Infrared System missile warning constellation and restructuring procurement of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles, the article states.