Accelerating digital transformation is the keystone to deterring space war

The United States cannot beat China without accelerating digital transformation: cloud-native services, edge computing, AI/ML-driven autonomy, software-defined payloads, zero-trust cybersecurity, network maneuver and automated DevSecOps pipelines. Digital transformation drives the pace at which militaries convert data into decisions, and decision dominance enables proactive deterrence. 

Choices made today about software, data, resilience and partnerships will therefore decide whether a nation can deter aggression, maintain access to space and uphold military advantage in the decades to come. Policymakers, defense planners and industry leaders must embed digital transformation into the core of national security space architectures so resilience, agility and strategic advantage become lasting qualities, not mere aspirations. Moving to a digital-first posture demands intentional architectural choices and acquisition strategies that break from legacy stovepipes. 

The Defense Department’s transition from Program Executive Officers to Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs) is an ideal time to evaluate whether digital transformation is proceeding as quickly as needed within each portfolio and identify opportunities to accelerate. For the Space Force, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration (SAF/SQ) should therefore include “digital transformation” on the PAE dashboard and as an agenda item in PAE portfolio reviews, to include portfolio evaluations from independent digital experts/advocates who do not report to the PAE.

Current state of affairs

National space architectures are shifting in the needed directions, but not fast enough. Traditional programs still rely on single prime contractors and integrators, single-purpose platforms, tightly coupled ground systems and slow acquisition cycles.  Governments are incorporating DevSecOps, edge computing and AI-enabled processing, but integration is inconsistent and too slow. Stovepipes, proprietary interfaces, classification, bureaucracy, knowledge gaps, poor acquisition strategies and risk-averse operators and acquirers continue to slow deployment. 

Meanwhile, China is moving at lightning speed. It is quickly narrowing capability gaps, following coordinated long-term plans and marshaling national resources to contest U.S. advantages across many domains — especially space. The Chinese have a clear national strategy, embedding space and critical technology development into national plans such as Five-Year Plans and Made in China 2025.   

Path forward

The key to accelerating digital transformation is to shift significant resources and decision making authority away from single prime contractors building/integrating discrete weapon systems and toward data, networks, system engineering and government/multi-contractor integration. The Joint Fires Network and Golden Dome are leading the way and will continue to need digital-focused and data-centric acquisition strategies and authority to ensure digital transformation underlies their architecture and resourcing decisions. 

Accelerating digital transformation is not a new initiative but rather incomplete and still insufficiently emphasized. SAF/SQ and the PAEs will know it is sufficiently understood and emphasized for space programs if they observe specific actions and outcomes such as these:

Easier, low-hanging fruit:

• Mandate and fund DevSecOps pipelines for all space programs.
• Implement data cataloging and cross-domain APIs for priority mission sets.
• Pilot edge-processing payloads and network maneuver for ISR and communications-on-demand.
• Scale cyber-hardened commercial partnerships with assured supply lines.

Harder, significant return on investment:

• Deploy federated constellations with software-defined payloads.
• Institutionalize zero-trust across space ground and user segments.
• Fix and accelerate international partnership processes to formalize allied interoperability standards and multi-party exercises.

Hardest, essential to deterring space conflict with China:

• Deploy mature autonomous, AI-driven space tasking and defensive systems with human-on-the-loop controls.
• Field resilient, distributed architectures that combine sovereign nodes with trusted international and commercial elements.
• Implement enduring norms and legal frameworks that preserve strategic stability.

Digital transformation is the operational imperative for national security space architectures confronting a more capable adversary. The strategic response must be holistic: center systems on data, build in cybersecurity and zero-trust from the start, adopt agile acquisition and DevSecOps, and integrate allied and commercial partners into federated, interoperable multi-contractor frameworks. The path forward carries risks, but inaction is costlier: failing to rapidly digitize space architectures cedes initiative to competitors that already combine scale, software and state power. Nations that pair disciplined digital engineering with resilient, distributed space systems and robust partnerships will gain capability — and strategic tempo — the decisive currency in twenty-first-century competition.

David Logsdon is the Senior Director of the Space Policy, Space Enterprise Council, an affiliate of the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI).

Eric Felt is an independent consultant and former director of space systems engineering at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration.