The Space Force expects to begin identifying members for its Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve and get them under contract by 2025, if not sooner. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, approved the Commercial Space Office’s plan for the construct, known as CASR, last fall and the implementation strategy is underway. Col. Richard Kniseley, the leader of the service’s Commercial Space Office, is working on the contractual language for companies that will participate in the reserve.
The Space Systems Command, announced last year it was making plans to create a commercial space reserve. The resulting strategy factors in concerns and feedback from more than 60 companies to ensure the government and industry understand the requirements and risks. Concerns about the reliability of commercial systems during wartime were illuminated by SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s reveal about Starlink communication satellites.
The Commercial Space Office is also crafting a surveillance plan for CASR members to ensure companies are reliable and investing in things like cybersecurity and manufacturing capabilities. The Space Force recently signed an agreement with the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center to learn more about its threat-sharing approach and potentially use it as a model.
Kniseley also hopes to begin collaborating with the Space Force’s Tactically Responsive Space team to test out CASR concepts as part of their capability exercises. The Space Force’s fiscal 2024 budget request proposed creating a funding line for commercial capabilities, including CASR.
