By Chris Forrester
Gary Henry, Senior Advisor at the Defense Innovation Unit. With 27-years in the USAF (“and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat”), Mr Henry has also spent 5 years at SpaceX (he joined in 2019). He explained what the current DIU version 3.0 comprises, and which has as its objective “using the best of commercial technology and innovation at speed and scale to deter major conflict or win if forced to fight.”
He added that what could be described as DIU 1.0 was post WW2 with bombers and submarines and nuclear. It was a successful strategy. DIU 2.0 saw Gulf War-type precise affects, and proving that problems can be solved with mostly commercial technology solutions.
“Today’s DIU 3.0 is constantly evolving. The past 10 years now has a new element present, which is the race between the U.S. and others to embrace and control AI.”
DIU is designed to fill any gaps, and has a large number of commercial vendors active with submissions, and then there’s 12-24 months for prototyping. DIU is looking at the following silos:
- Responsive Space
- Resilient Comms
- Persistent Sensing
- Dynamic Space Operations
- Advanced Power & Propulsion
- Assured PNT
“Being able to manoeuvre [a satellite] in a way that your adversary cannot, will help to win a conflict.”
Mr Henry used SpaceX’s Starship as a model of excellence. “Launching 100-150 metric tons to LEO, cost from $2000 per kilo to $200 and taking out the marginal costs then this sum falls to $20 per kgs. I believe we are on the verge of something dramatically transformative. It is a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’.”
He encouraged small businesses to connect with the DIU, and complete a form on the DIU’s web-site and express their interests and capabilities. He added that Starship was on the DIU’s radar. Mr Henry expected Starship when in its ‘tanker’ mode to be very useful when in orbit. “In my opinion what I like about the DIU’s approach is to leverage your system and ideas, and which would be useful to the Dept. of Defense. In general DIU encourages international partners, and it is increasingly rare for the DoD to bar international suppliers. Hypersonic vehicle testing is also on their radar, with a planned weekly test regime. The best performing test is currently an Australian company (Hypersonix Launch Systems).”
