Chris Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office and a five-time Wash100 Award winner, outlined the agency’s strategy, with an emphasis on speed, innovation and partnerships, at the Maryland Space Business Roundtable on June 18.
NRO Focuses on Partnership, Rapid Development
The NRO said Wednesday Scolese said the agency is fostering and expanding strategic collaborations with government, academia and industry partners in developing innovations addressing challenges in a contested space environment. He stressed that the agency will focus on rapid advancements in research and development, design, manufacturing, acquisition, launch, data collection and operations to meet the demands of warfighters, policymakers, first responders and other stakeholders for innovations enhancing data delivery in customized formats.
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Scolese added that the agency’s recently launched Space Reconnaissance Lab has greatly contributed to encouraging collaboration between public and private industries and accelerating the development and deployment of new innovations related to space architecture, national security and scientific advancements. He added that the collaborations have bolstered capability, resilience and opportunities for new concepts to develop. The NRO director also noted the need for automation and artificial intelligence-driven tools to enhance its systems.
“Our commercial collaborations are flourishing because we have broken down barriers to doing business with the NRO to take advantage of commercially available data as well as commercially available products,” Scolese said. “This is enhancing the viability of the commercial sector even as it delivers greater efficiency and effectiveness for the government,” he added.
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