The U.S. government and new space companies continue to (by government standards) rapidly synchronize:

The U.S. Space Force is on the verge of finalizing a key strategy document outlining how it will partner with the burgeoning commercial space industry. After months of refinement, Deputy Chief of Space Operations Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt announced Jan. 5 at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies that the document is nearing completion.

…“Historically we’ve worked with commercial to build a satellite or a rocket,” said Burt. “But how do we start to think about buying things as a service? I don’t have to own a satellite. I don’t have to own those things,” she added. “I think that is what we’re trying to also make sure we capture in the strategy.”

This move is really just the government catching up to the private sector. That’s a good thing. They key is keeping the private sector innovation and national strategy evaluation and calibration effort in as tight a loop as possible. That already occurs in more established defense sectors but the explosive growth in New Space is forcing a bit of a scramble:

“The space domain has not necessarily had a very large industrial base in the past because . . . it was primarily the government running those capabilities,” she said. “Now that you see entrepreneurs and commercial companies going into the domain and more nations are also spacefaring nations, you’re starting to see that industrial base build.”

It’s in the Space Force’s interest, she added, to draw from that industrial base wherever possible.

We’re making massive progress on that, and we’ll have to continue doing so, because China can do all of this with even less friction. Ultimately the winner won’t be the entity with the most assets in space, but rather the nation that can reconstitute it’s space-based capabilities quickly, cheaply, and as many times as needed until the enemy’s ability to attack it is eliminated.