Raza Khan

The acquisition process for a new weapon system begins with development of technical requirements to ensure that the system produced provides the needed operational capability within budget and schedule constraints. Oversights during this process can result in cost or schedule overruns, unsuitable operational performance, or outright cancellation. This report describes a systems-based approach to help improve this process.

As the commercial space industry continues to grow in capability, capacity, and diversity, opportunities for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and the U.S. Department of Defense to leverage commercial space capabilities are expanding. In this review of commercial space capabilities that could support the USSF's future space architecture and innovation ecosystem, the authors characterize capabilities and trends in the commercial market through mid-2020.

Because U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) rotary-wing aircraft are nearing their ends of life, the USCG is reassessing its airpower needs for its current missions and future operational requirements. Researchers assessed what airpower mixes could help the USCG execute its missions across the entire geographic domain for operations in the next 30 years. In this report, they document their findings and make recommendations.

To support U.S. Department of Homeland Security efforts to prioritize capability investments, this report examines trends in small unmanned aerial system development, the features that are likely to aid nefarious users, and how such actors could use an sUAS (or multiple systems) to conduct various types of operations-from surveilling U.S. government facilities to dispersing a chemical agent at a large public event.