A fiscal 2019 defense appropriations bill crafted by the House Armed Services Committee contains language that would require a Defense Department component to manage commercially hosted payloads, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.
Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., introduced the language as amendment to the panel’s version of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.
The amendment calls for DoD and U.S. Air Force leaders to assign an office that would coordinate processes, data and lessons learned concerning the use of hosted payload services from industry.
Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told SpaceNews he believes industry offers multiple opportunities for military services to increase payload capacity and resiliency.
The report said some commercial satellite operators view national security payloads as a potential business opportunity that can also work to help address a military requirement.