U.S. Space Force Urged to Reform AI Industrial Strategy

The United States Space Force faces a strategic risk in the emerging space race if it relies on artificial intelligence leadership without translating that technology into industrial productivity. While American venture capital has fueled the growth of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, the Government of China has successfully integrated AI and automation into its industrial base to dominate the global automobile market through scale and cost reduction.

This industrial model is now transitioning to the space sector, where satellites are increasingly software-defined and mass-produced. The current U.S. national security space industry operates as a monopsony, which risks creating dangerous monopolies through the use of sole-source contracts. These acquisition policies, managed by the United States Department of War, effectively serve as the industrial policy for the sector.

To maintain a military advantage, the U.S. Space Force must restructure provider competition. This shift is necessary to ensure that space capabilities can be replaced and upgraded faster and more affordably than those of adversaries during a potential conflict, avoiding vendor lock-in and accelerating production cycles.