The Pentagon is pushing to forge agreements with private companies at home and from allied countries. Known as the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR), the initiative will involve embedding the private sector into operations to maintain crucial satellite-enabled capabilities, including communications, navigation, surveillance, and missile detection. To be eligible for the new scheme, private companies with excess capacity will have to show they can support the DoD under potential wartime scenarios when requested.
Such a move goes well beyond the usual relationships forged between the government and contractors. And it hasn’t come out of nowhere. For at least a year, Colonel Knisley and the Space Systems Command Commercial Space Office have been discussing plans to put in place a commercial space reserve so it has access to commercial satellite services during conflict. In August 2023, the Space Systems Command asked contractors to submit their comments on the CASR, modeled on the Air Force Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, which gives the government access to commercial airlines for transport at times of need.
