The House Appropriations Committee’s defense subpanel has released a report that would require the Defense Department to come up with an acquisition strategy that explains how it will buy commercial space systems and services to support its military communications satellites, SpaceNews reported Saturday.
The report was issued alongside the defense subcommittee’s proposed defense policy bill for fiscal 2019.
The report said the subcommittee’s defense spending measure would redirect $49.5 million in funds from “pathfinder†projects toward the establishment of a new “program of record†within the U.S. Air Force for commercial satcom.
“The committee is looking holistically at the space architecture … This is a monumental move by the committee,†an industry official told the publication.
The House Appropriations Committee’s measure builds on the fiscal 2018 defense spending law, which ordered the move of commercial satcom procurement responsibility to the Air Force Space Command from the Defense Information Systems Agency, the report added.