Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. -- The Space and Missile Systems Center’s (SMC) Special Programs Directorate hosted the Fourth Semi-Annual Resiliency Forum sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) at Northrop Grumman Space Park in Redondo Beach, Ca. on Nov. 21, 2019. The Resiliency Forum served as an opportunity for the Air Force to share and update the space industry on the latest resiliency activities to include those designed to help protect and defend U.S. space systems.
More than 200 space professionals from both industry and government attended the forum. This was the largest forum to date with more than 25 companies and 12 speakers in attendance and included a panel discussion and workshop. Lt. Gen. John Thompson, the Air Force program executive fficer for Space, provided the keynote speech in which he described the importance of having a national conversation on the growing space threat and the need to improve the resilience of space systems for the defense of U.S. military systems, the U.S. economy and the global space commons.
“Our space capabilities enable an asymmetric advantage. We need to protect and defend that advantage,” said Col. Stephen Purdy, SMC Special Programs director. The Resiliency Forum was established to break down barriers, help integrate and synchronize the government enterprise, improve partnership between the U.S. Government and the space industry, foster innovation, and grow the industrial ecosystem to field more resilient space capabilities, quickly and smartly.