By Marina Malenic
A new Air Force purchasing strategy that aims to save money through higher-quantity satellite buys is seen by some critics as counterproductive.
The new Evolutionary Acquisition for Space Strategy, or EASE, was rolled out in the service’s Fiscal 2012 budget request. The plan is to end the current practice of purchasing satellites one at a time or on a just-in-time basis, which has resulted in debilitating cost increases. Under EASE, fixed-price contracts and block buys would simultaneously stabilize the industrial base and lower costs. Air Force officials have said such an approach would shave 10 percent off the billions of dollars spent on satellite systems.
Air Force Undersecretary Erin Conaton said yesterday that, under the previous acquisition methods, production line breaks, parts obsolescence and inefficient use of labor have raised the cost of satellites and reduced the number of spacecraft the military has been able to procure.
“Through EASE and with the support of Congress, we will propose block purchases of satellites, fixed-price contracts, stable research and development, and modified annual funding to cover the systems,” Conaton said.
She was speaking at an event sponsored by the George C. Marshall Institute.
However, a panel of experts at the event criticized the new strategy.
Robert Butterworth, a defense consultant with Ares Analytics, called EASE a “papering over of problems.”
“There’s no doubt in my mind that this initiative will fail and will probably cost us more in the long term,” Butterworth said.
The main problem with the strategy, according to Butterworth, is that it locks the military into buying multiple copies of the same satellite for at least a five-year production run.
“That’s just not how you buy satellites,” he said. “We may well want different capabilities on follow-on blocks.”
As a result, EASE will create incentives for program officials to add as many capabilities as possible, leading to “requirements creep,” according to Butterworth.
Todd Harrison, a budget expert with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said flattening Pentagon budgets in the foreseeable future will make large block buys of satellites all but impossible.
“The focus now is on spending cuts,” Harrison said. “The budget environment for space programs, as with all of defense, is going to be very difficult.”