Col. Richard Kniseley, head of the Commercial Space Office within the U.S. Space Force, said making deliberate investments in commercial capabilities in support of the needs of warfighters is one of his top priorities for the newly established office, C4ISRNET reported Monday.
“Because the feedback I’ve gotten from the commercial entities is they want to get involved. They want to be good partners. … The best way to do it is through investments. So, aligning contracts and aligning the right funding to do this,” he told the publication in an interview.
Another priority for Kniseley is transitioning the Commercial Satellite Communications Office away from the Defense Information Systems Agency. The office currently uses DISA for contracting.
He said his office plans to set up a working capital fund by the end of September to enable the office to go after other mission areas moving forward.
Kniseley said he also wants to further advance industry engagements as he builds up the Commercial Space Office, which will be headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia.
He cited his plans for the Space Domain Awareness marketplace and highlighted the need to integrate new capabilities during peacetime.
“The way I look at it, especially with this conflict that’s coming [with China], we have got to get these capabilities integrated during peacetime so that the warfighter has a chance to use it, so that we can integrate them into exercises and war games to really make it a part of the architecture,” Kniseley said.
