Peace Garden News

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), founder and co-chair of the Senate Space Force Caucus, discussed prioritizing Perimeter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization System (PARCS) modernization and rapid acquisition timeliness at a Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing. Excerpts and full video are below.

Senator Cramer expressed further support for upgrading the PARCS Radar in Cavalier, particularly amid the Space Force’s plans for a “transition to more modern architecture.” He asked General David Thompson, Vice Chief of Space Operations, and Frank Calvelli, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, about how the PARCS fits with such proposals.

“During that transition, some legacy pieces need to be improved upon,” said Senator Cramer. “How do you see the PARCS integrating into this transition to the ‘new architecture?’”

“The first [challenge] is when we talk about missile warning and missile tracking and hypersonic vehicles. Because we're no longer in an era of ballistic missiles -- we're now in an era of maneuvering vehicles -- we're going to have to understand how those warning systems contribute and how they need to be changed, or perhaps improved, to be able to adjust to that,” responded General Thompson. “The second piece is to continue to evaluate how they fit into our overall space domain awareness enterprise. Those sensors play a tremendous role in keeping track of all the objects in orbit. What we need to do is understand how we're using them today and what improvements can be made to continue in the future. For right now, it's a matter of thoughtful design and investment before we commit large dollars to how we're going to monitor it.”

“Thanks to Congress, there was an upper $3 million in 2023 that we're using to help digitize some components, and I think you'll find our [FY] 24 POM, a $6.4 million additional to continue to renovate the PARCS radar systems,” responded Secretary Calvelli. 

“As you know, I’m watching it carefully, grateful we were able to get you some money to do that,” said Senator Cramer. “But at the same time, I'm not advocating we waste it, so I appreciate the thoughtful approach.”

He also discussed rapid acquisition with Secretary Calvelli and John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy. He highlighted the importance for the force to maintain flexibility and engage with the private and commercial sectors.

“Elaborate, Secretary Plumb and Secretary Calvelli, on the acquisition timeliness and how we can be more helpful?,” asked Senator Cramer. “I want to be the guy who watches it, has appropriate oversight, but doesn't get in the way and become the ‘gotcha’ person. In other words, do it well, report regularly, things need to change and change quickly.” 

“The fundamental model we need to drive to is to build much smaller systems,” said Secretary Calvelli. “So, use existing technology and do it on about three-year centers -- from contract start to launch in about three years. What we'll find by doing that is, not only will we gain speed, but we'll do technology refresh dramatically faster.”

“Moving at speed is really important, it's going to unlock things we haven't even considered yet,” said Secretary Plumb. “But we should also remember that if we're going to buy a lot more things and move faster, then some of those things may fail, and we cannot afford to have systems shut down because some small percentage of them failed. That's been the tendency for large, exquisite systems, which has added cost and time. We're going to try to move faster. We're going to have to have some tolerance for failure in there so we could keep moving fast.”

“We don't want to ever stop innovating,” concluded Senator Cramer. “We want you to be nimble with appropriate oversight, and I hear you loud and clear.” 

Original source can be found here.