On National Security | SmallSat Alliance steps up push for a military comms ‘outernet’

A legislative proposal in the 2023 defense spending bill calling on DoD to leverage commercial space networks marks a victory of sorts for the SmallSat Alliance.

As its name indicates, the alliance is an industry group that advocates for greater use of small satellites, particularly by the U.S. government. Its focus over the past few years has been on the idea of a “hybrid space architecture” — or the integration of commercial smallsat and large satellite constellations with government and defense communications systems.