{"id":564502,"date":"2025-12-15T09:47:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T14:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/?p=564502"},"modified":"2025-12-17T08:17:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:17:29","slug":"why-the-space-force-says-2025-changes-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/why-the-space-force-says-2025-changes-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Space Force says 2025 changes everything"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Why the Space Force says 2025 changes everything\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/61vY8OBWWtY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode of Space Minds, host Mike Gruss sits down with Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, one of the U.S. Space Force\u2019s most influential acquisition leaders and recipient of the SpaceNews Icon Award for Military Space Achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Purdy discusses how 2025 is shaping up to be a defining year for Space Systems Command (SSC) and why this past year represented a major shift toward the \u201cground game\u201d\u2014software, training systems, and modernized infrastructure. He describes how Guardians are driving adoption of AI tools, how SSC is integrating commercial innovation at unprecedented speed, and why this current wave of acquisition reform may finally stick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From meeting 160 companies in a single year to rethinking refueling, space mobility, and on-orbit servicing, Purdy details how commercial space, venture-backed startups, and emerging technologies\u2014from space mining to in-space nuclear systems\u2014are reshaping how the U.S. prepares for the future of space warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This wide-ranging conversation explores the evolving national security space ecosystem and offers a candid look at how the Space Force is trying to move faster, innovate smarter, and ensure resilience in a contested domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">sponsored by<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/innoflight.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=300%2C233&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-511576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=300%2C233&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=1024%2C795&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=768%2C596&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=1536%2C1192&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=2048%2C1589&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=1200%2C931&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=1568%2C1217&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=2000%2C1552&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=400%2C310&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square.png?resize=706%2C548&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Innoflight-Logo-FullColor-Square-300x233.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Innoflight has been a trusted space avionics supplier for more than 20 years. Innoflight is AS9100D and ISO 9001 certified, and develops innovative, radiation tolerant by design, and integrated cyber secure space avionics solutions, suited for space vehicle buses and payloads. Innoflight\u2019s cutting-edge and mission critical communications, networking, cyber security, processing, and integrated electronics solutions support the most advanced space missions. Innoflight continues to revolutionize the space industry and excels in modular, high performance, and low Size Weight and Power (SWaP) hardware and software solutions with successful flight heritage in multiple orbits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-show-notes-and-transcript\">Show notes and transcript<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><br>Click here for Notes and Transcript<\/summary>\n<p><strong>Time Markers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>00:00 \u2013 Episode introduction<br>01:06 &#8211; Guest introduction<br>02:06 \u2013 Highlights of 2025 for Space Systems Command<br>05:39 \u2013 What Guardians Need<br>08:03 \u2013 Why Acquisition Reform Is Different<br>12:13 \u2013 New DoD Reforms and Portfolio Thinking<br>14:21 \u2013 Visiting Nontraditional Space Companies<br>17:43 \u2013 Surprising Tech from Space Mining &amp; Automation<br>19:43 \u2013 Dual-Use Technology and Commercial Integration<br>21:42 \u2013 On-Orbit Servicing, Refueling, and Space Mobility<br>23:58 \u2013 Breaking the Refueling Paradox<br>26:36 \u2013 Infrastructure Challenges Ahead<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Transcript \u2013 Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy Conversation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This transcript has been edited-for-clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 I had the pleasure of introducing General Purdy last week because he won the SpaceNews Icon Award for military space achievement. What I said then, and what many of you already know, is that General Purdy has been at the forefront of an effort to rewire how the military buys satellites, launches rockets, and, I think most importantly, how to partner with industry\u2014private industry. Your approach has been to tap into these commercial companies. And I think the last we heard was, what, 160 meetings this year to outpace adversaries and deliver cutting-edge capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re gonna get right into it. I have a couple of real quick housekeeping things. One, thanks to the Space Force Association for hosting this conference. I&#8217;d also like to thank Redwire for producing the speakers we have lined up all day. It\u2019s a fantastic lineup here at the Guardian Nexus stage. I\u2019d also say for our Guardians who are readers out there, you can get free access to SpaceNews at spacenews.com\/guardians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So with that, let\u2019s start with 2025\u2014a big year for you all. What are the highlights for you? Where do you think the big successes in acquisition have been for your office?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 Hey, so first I want to pass on my congrats and thanks to all of you and all of the government personnel\u2014the program management, the operations, the tests\u2014and industry out there. This has been a joint effort. This past year, we have done an amazing amount of work collectively, and it really took everyone together to do all that. Not one group can be successful, and the purpose of acquisitions is to deliver integrated warfighting capability to the warfighter. I mean, that&#8217;s the fundamental purpose. It\u2019s not to have program reviews, and it\u2019s not to do analysis and risk, but that&#8217;s a function of it. Our mainline purpose is to deliver capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I&#8217;ll start there: an amazing amount. I actually have a cheat sheet, just because there&#8217;s so much stuff that we&#8217;ve done this last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I found interesting is that traditionally, we&#8217;re the Space Force\u2014we build satellites and whatnot. That\u2019s actually been a side gig for us this year. I mean, we had some satellites that went operational\u2014acceptance, EPS weather satellite, GPS satellites. But this year&#8217;s all really been about the ground game. A lot of ground hardware components and software. This has really been a year of software and kind of a change in software on the ground hardware components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quite a bit of activity. S2E2\u2014we&#8217;ve done early use with DARC and G-BOSS. We&#8217;ve had quite a bit of success with CCSS, which is the Counter-Comm Systems electronic warfare. And we&#8217;ve had some really innovative cultural successes, and I&#8217;ll use that one as an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have delivered product on CCSS, but I think more importantly, we pivoted in the middle of the year and instead halted delivering product because the warfighters wanted some additional training systems and supply to meet their warfighting needs. And so we pivoted with industry and delivered that instead. Being able to pivot during the year to meet warfighter needs\u2014be it actual capability, training systems, or supply parts, etc.\u2014I think was a real key innovation. Those were conversations we weren\u2019t having in previous years, and that\u2019s been enhanced by improved communication over this last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the software game\u2014quite a lot of activity going on in software. Battle management, command and control, KRONOS had a couple of software drops. I think this is really the year of OTTE, though, which is our test and training architecture. We pushed a lot of bodies into that. Last year, General Guetlein reorganized some elements at SSC. The result of that was seen this year because they had the manpower to really work with STARCOM and the test deltas and the training deltas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, over the year, I would say, a stream of various trainers, hardware, and software\u2014the SWORD system, which is a war-gaming software system. We&#8217;ve injected AI in terms of augmenting Red in the war games. Just a lot of that work. Previously, we haven\u2019t really talked about a lot of that activity. So all of that software, all of that training\u2014just really proud of the entire team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 I was going to ask this later, but you mentioned it, so let&#8217;s get back to it. What do you hear from Guardians that they want\u2014that they need to do their job better? And you gave an example of how that&#8217;s changed how you&#8217;re thinking, but talk to me about the consistent feedback you&#8217;re getting from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 Yeah, absolutely. And I think the answer to what our Guardians are asking for varies based on which Guardians are asking, what organization they come from, what mission they&#8217;re dealing with, and also what level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I think our youngest Guardians are coming in and they are hyper-aware of modern technology, of AI. They\u2019re using LLMs and AI like just normal course of business. They went through school using that\u2014quite a bit of press on that topic\u2014and they&#8217;re coming in hungry to use these tools. And that is something you&#8217;ve seen just within the last couple of weeks: major movements at the Department of the Air Force level. S1 and S6\u2014the Space Force S6\u2014have been working cooperatively to push out a bunch of AI tools. We had a mandate from S1: \u201cHey, we want you to be using AI tools in your acquisition program offices,\u201d for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I think you see that at the younger levels. Then you see a hunger for training and knowledge about how to do their business. As you get higher up, they&#8217;re looking for more operational effects on the warfighter side, and we&#8217;re looking for better knowledge within our SPO systems\u2014of industry, industry trends, technology\u2014and to be able to inject those in. And then, of course, expertise in our functional support so that we have the tools to bring those in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the highest levels\u2014my level, the PEO levels\u2014we&#8217;re dealing with venture capital. We&#8217;re trying to understand where their thinking is, where industry\u2019s massive trends are. We&#8217;re trying to push these trends in certain directions that help us. We&#8217;re trying to leverage those billions of dollars of private equity funds so that we can benefit because we&#8217;ve got a smaller budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it really depends who you&#8217;re talking to. But overall, you&#8217;re seeing a hunger for change, innovation, delivering\u2014hunger for action and movement. And I think you see not only that hunger, but actual delivery of that this last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 Yeah, and that segues nicely into acquisition reform. That&#8217;s been a big topic the last, let&#8217;s say, six, eight weeks. You and I have talked, and I told you I get a little skeptical when you hear about acquisition reform, because every couple of years there&#8217;s another cycle and it&#8217;s like, \u201cNo, no\u2014this time it&#8217;s going to be different. This time we&#8217;re really going to move faster. This time speed matters.\u201d So talk to me about why this time is different, or how you can point to an example where you can say, \u201cHey, we might not have done it this way five or ten years ago,\u201d and you feel you can see the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 Yeah, that\u2019s a perfect question, because we&#8217;ve talked acquisition reform for 50 years, and it&#8217;s almost a joke among our communities. I would say there are a couple of aspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Number one, I would say the Space Force\u2014its existence is credited in part based on acquisition reform. We stood up in a true shift of the space domain from benign to warfighting. And we had the advantage of shifting some movement happening in the Department of the Air Force to support the Space Force. We set up with some of that early thinking of reform and different ways to do business. We set up with a passion for technology and closer integration with industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are several other elements that play into why I think this time is legitimately different. So building upon the success of the last several years, particularly this year\u2014we came out strong. The last couple of years, as Col. Valley came on as the first Space SAE, he laid down the groundwork: a back-to-basics program management 101 perspective. We killed some programs. We set new culture. That stuff took and we&#8217;ve been building on it ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would argue much of the activity we\u2019ve done last year and this year was a precursor to SecAF\u2019s and DoD\u2019s major acquisition reform efforts\u2014and particularly Congress. The NDAA, which just came out, is filled with that language. Additionally, you have the Secretary of the Air Force and the Department of Defense talking about acquisition reform and major changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So while we&#8217;ve talked about it before, I think there\u2019s an unreal amount of senior-leader involvement, pressure, and push on the subject. Couple that with the fact that we&#8217;ve been working culture pieces, organizational pieces, and\u2014critically\u2014the benefit of the space industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The space industry is our secret to success. Unlike all others, there are billions of dollars of private equity and venture capital pouring into the commercial market that we\u2019re able to leverage. We&#8217;ve been leveraging SBIRs and STRATFI to cross the valley of death, and we&#8217;ve done that for years. Many of the companies competing for modern programs are products of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Step-by-step, brick-by-brick, we&#8217;ve built our path, and I think we\u2019re on a really good path to reform. There is still a lot to do, but history of success across the enterprise shows we&#8217;re on the right track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 There\u2019s a lot to unpack there. I want to back up to the Secretary\u2019s new reforms. Is there anything you&#8217;ve seen there that directly impacts space or thinks about space differently, where you said, \u201cHey, I can see how we can apply this, and I can see that something I did two years ago\u2014there\u2019s maybe a better way to do it now\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 So, from the SecAF\u2019s piece? I think what they&#8217;ve done is added additional elements. Some of those things we were already doing. For example, Space Development Agency long ago built a plan where you had multiple winners in the end game, and they pioneered a lot of that really fast, rapid acquisition contracting. We have adopted that across Space RCO and SSC. It\u2019s a matter of course\u2014it\u2019s how we treat rapid acquisition: multiple winners in the end game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But they have added extra elements\u2014some influenced from the Hill and some they\u2019ve added on their own. So the construct of moving from PEOs to PAEs\u2014truly thinking and treating it like a portfolio level\u2014is another level of thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those trying to visualize what that looks like, I think in space we have another model: the National Reconnaissance Office. If you look at the towers, those are kind of an idealized goal of PAEs and acquisition reform. Those tower directors have the ability to trade back and forth within their portfolios, moving between exquisite and commercial and proliferated as they need. They also have funding flexibility, and all those authorities reside within those towers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we\u2019re using those as a guide star, and we\u2019re marching to that plan. SecAF has indicated that\u2019s his vision. And so SecAF\u2019s directions and the acquisition reform directions are a set of helpers that allow us to move along that path. They establish the PAE construct, establish speed as a relevant and primary function, double down on commercial and industry elements. All that pressure and push helps a lot to validate that we\u2019re on the right path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 I want to ask a little bit about your visits with industry throughout the past year. You&#8217;ve gone to companies that maybe traditionally haven\u2019t been thought of as national security space companies. One example that\u2019s gotten attention has been Vast, the commercial space station builder. But we just saw in the last couple weeks that more than 1,000 companies were on the IDIQ with SHIELD. So there are a lot of folks out there interested in this space. Tell me: when you go to a company that maybe isn\u2019t traditionally thought of as a military space company, what are you looking for, and why is that a good use of your time? What do you get out of that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 Yeah, this is an area I feel particularly passionate about. I&#8217;ve told our program management teams\u2014and I\u2019ve told industry\u2014particularly the PM teams and the PEOs: it is your job to get out to industry regularly and repeatedly. And it\u2019s not just to visit the same couple of companies that you have on contract. It\u2019s your job to manage that contract, but it&#8217;s also your job to get out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I\u2019ll reference back to a point I made earlier: the vibrant space industrial base. And I would add the vibrant IT space out of Silicon Valley. There is a lot of work going on there. And if we just myopically look at the world from the couple of folks that are on contract and neglect all that other work, that\u2019s to our disadvantage. Our job is to deliver capability. You can&#8217;t possibly know what\u2019s out there without getting out and seeing it yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I&#8217;ve tried to lead by example. And you&#8217;re right\u2014it\u2019s been about 150, 160\u2014probably 180 or 190\u2014companies visited this year by myself, driving a lot of work to the team. But we do that because I&#8217;m trying to understand what\u2019s happening in commercial industry that we don&#8217;t know and we&#8217;re not absorbing yet. And you find there is an amazing amount of capability out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have this internal drive to find this tech and get it out to our PEOs and PMs\u2014\u201cGo look at this. Make sure you\u2019re understanding this,\u201d so that as you build these next acquisition plans, you&#8217;re keeping it all in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The end goal is this: if we can slightly modify some of this traditional non-defense space tech and get it into warfighter hands, and that gives them an edge in the war fight, that\u2019s the goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 Is there\u2014and I\u2019m putting you on the spot a little here\u2014is there an example of a company you&#8217;ve been to and you said, \u201cHey, I didn\u2019t think there was something here, but there was\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 Well, there have been quite a few. A couple come to mind. I would almost call them mission areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the commercial space station market\u2014you\u2019re vaguely aware of it, but it&#8217;s not really our mainline business. Although, from a futurist perspective, I have half a foot in the future a lot of times, thinking about what the Space Force might want to go to. So I&#8217;m trying to think about what tech might be out there and get our folks thinking about it in case that comes down the pike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Space station tech and how far they&#8217;ve come along\u2014commercial space stations\u2014is surprising. There is a lot of build happening in that area. The level of automation in space has also been surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then I\u2019ll tell you a particular community of interest: the space mining community. That was a community I didn\u2019t really pay attention to a couple of years ago. Now I&#8217;m paying attention. They&#8217;ve been doing deep thinking about dim objects, cis-lunar and past-lunar areas. They\u2019ve brought up national security thoughts and ideas to us, and I&#8217;m like, \u201cThat&#8217;s a really good point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was one particular company that hit me with three different aha moments in the same meeting. They were the winner by far for the year\u2014it was pretty amazing. It was like, \u201cOh my gosh, we are not even thinking about these strategic effects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then I&#8217;d give a nod to the space nuclear community as well. That was an area I was aware of early in the year, but I had not really thought much about. I&#8217;ve now become much more interested in the potential benefits they provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 Let\u2019s pivot slightly to this phrase that\u2019s been very popular this year: dual-use technology. I don\u2019t think we heard it as much in the first six months of the year as we\u2019ve heard it in the last six months. And I think particularly there\u2019s interest in Europe about it. How are you thinking about dual-use technology in your role?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 Yeah, so the term \u201cdual use\u201d is not something we naturally tend to use in S1 and acquisitions. I would translate dual use to \u201ccommercial.\u201d That\u2019s kind of how I&#8217;m thinking about it. I translate it to: how can I leverage capability and technology that&#8217;s in the commercial realm for national security needs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve been talking about commercial for a long time. But I feel like this year we started really moving the ball forward in many different acquisitions. It\u2019s one thing to talk about it and have strategies and say you&#8217;re going to do it. It\u2019s a whole other thing for the program managers and the PEOs to say, \u201cOkay, how are we going to actually incorporate this?\u201d and get into the discussions with industry about what they\u2019re willing to do on a contract and what they\u2019re not willing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why a lot of this year has been taken up with RFIs and draft RFPs\u2014multiple rounds of them\u2014as we look for ways to sort of thread the needle between traditional defense companies and this newer commercial space. They both have different ways they do funding and accounting, different approaches\u2014fixed price versus cost-plus, classic example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the process is one aspect\u2014setting up conditions for the PMs and PEOs to get after the process and establish approaches that allow those competitions. And then there\u2019s the tech side itself\u2014what tech is out there? That ties back to that earlier question about making sure we\u2019re at least open to grabbing that tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 I wanted to talk a bit about on-orbit servicing, because that&#8217;s also an area that\u2019s gotten a lot of attention this year. Explain to me how you see that evolving and why that needs to be just a requirement going forward for Space Force satellites\u2014or satellites to work with the Space Force, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 So, I&#8217;m a big believer in space mobility and logistics. When we were here at Launch, we established a conference\u2014Space Mobility and Logistics Conference\u2014to really get after it. One of my famous quotes on that stage was, \u201cWell, we don&#8217;t have any money, but we\u2019ll provide the leadership,\u201d right? So we&#8217;re going to get everyone together because we knew we had to get after standards and discussions, technology, what&#8217;s out there, what can we do, what are the problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had to have those discussions quite a bit to sort of figure out this whole mission space. It\u2019s a complicated set of factors. You have LEO versus GEO and MEO. You have a host of commercial companies getting after this area. And I would say that over time\u2014China, all over the world\u2014yes, absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This has been an area where I would give a lot of props to the acquisition community. The Space Force hasn&#8217;t yet firmed up its definite requirements. We\u2019ve talked about it in the commercial space strategy. We&#8217;ve referenced that this will clearly be a commercial kind of mission. We don\u2019t have funding specifically in this direction yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the acquisition community has done a really good job of pulling together SBIRs and STRATFI, pulling together some lab money, DIU, and other external elements. We&#8217;ve made deals with them and pooled our money together. There have been some congressional adds in this area, and they&#8217;ve gotten some nice plans in place that piece together multiple threads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we&#8217;ve got a space mobility thread to look at maneuvering objects. We&#8217;ve got a refueling thread to look at refueling objects. That&#8217;s all great work to exercise contracts and establish relationships with this entirely new mission area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, we&#8217;ve been working from the acquisition strategy side\u2014my office\u2014on: \u201cAre there processes? Are there programs coming up?\u201d When an acquisition strategy comes up\u2014\u201cHey, we&#8217;re looking at a new strategy for X, Y, or Z\u201d\u2014it&#8217;s now one of the items on our list: \u201cIs there a refueling strategy? Why not? What&#8217;s your plan?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most public version of that was the RGX discussion this year about, \u201cHey, this seems ideally suited for it.\u201d We don&#8217;t know exactly what the plans are\u2014the requirements space, the funding space\u2014but we&#8217;re going to put that element on there, put that demand signal out. We&#8217;re trying to break the chicken-and-egg paradox. We&#8217;re trying to push through it so we can sort of cheat a fait accompli on the subject, so that then we can execute. And we&#8217;ll see how that goes. We know it&#8217;s important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 You say that\u2014what does that look like? Is there a demonstration planned? Or when you say \u201cexecute,\u201d how?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 So our current thinking on that\u2014using RGX as an example. Really excited about that whole program. We&#8217;re looking to really proliferate across multiple industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But here&#8217;s a problem: if we do that\u2014which we absolutely want to do\u2014multiple industry partners and multiple buses are on different fuels. So how do I build a fueler to go take care of that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We kind of moved away from a single refueler, government-owned, to: \u201cOkay, RGX\u2014how can you put the conditions in so that we are not only requesting that you have a refueling capability, but also asking the complicated question: Can you bring a refueler yourself? Can you bring a commercial entity? Or do I just have a requirement that you have to refuel this, and I&#8217;m not going to provide it? I need your help with that because you own your own fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s allowed us much more detailed conversations with different potential bidders. You balance a government fueler\u2014much like the Air Force has\u2014with privatized, commoditized, commercial-based fueling. We&#8217;re trying to thread the needle to figure out what&#8217;s the easiest way to handle that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because again, I&#8217;m trying to create that space for a capability while being mindful that I don\u2019t want to burn a bunch of operations Guardians managing refueling. I need them focused on the war fight. So we&#8217;re trying to figure out a way to bring that capability to the warfighter without burdening them with unneeded tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 We have about a minute left, so I&#8217;m going to put you on the spot with a tough question. There&#8217;s a lot that the Space Force wants to do, but a lot of it requires infrastructure\u2014whether that\u2019s software, whether it&#8217;s launch, a whole host of areas. What are you concerned about when it comes to infrastructure and the Space Force succeeding?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 You&#8217;re going to ask me a launch question with one minute left? Where are my launch bros out there? They&#8217;re all out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there\u2019s a host of infrastructure concerns. It&#8217;s very easy and tempting to look at an end effector and not look at the infrastructure. We&#8217;ve got a lot of infrastructure things to look at\u2014launch, spaceports, SCN talking to our satellites, the comm networks, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would argue we&#8217;re in a decent place for now. But when you look at where we&#8217;re trying to go\u2014true warfighting effects, resiliency\u2014there&#8217;s a lot more work we probably need to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the launch side\u2014very passionate about that area with Launch\u2014and we&#8217;re a bit disaggregated. We&#8217;ve got federal Space Force, state spaceports, private spaceports. We have multiple federal agencies. So I&#8217;m really working behind the scenes to push, \u201cHey, we kind of need national leadership in this particular area to take a holistic approach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then on the other internal infrastructure items\u2014we have a lot of work. Shannon Palone is working a lot with JAM and SCN to get after commercial aspects. Everywhere where we have commercial potential needs, or we need augmentation, we&#8217;re looking at commercial aspects to sort of fill in those elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mike Gruss<\/strong> \u2013 Well, like I said, that&#8217;s all the time we have. Thank you, General Purdy. I want to recognize the Space Force Association for hosting this. I&#8217;d again like to thank Redwire for producing the great speakers here on the Guardian Nexus stage. I also want to let everyone know this conversation will be available online with support from Innoflight at SpaceNews.com as part of our Space Minds podcast. Thanks everyone, and thank you, General Purdy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy<\/strong> \u2013 Thank you all. Thanks a lot.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-about-space-minds\">About Space Minds<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Space Minds is a new audio and video podcast from SpaceNews that focuses on the inspiring leaders, technologies and exciting opportunities in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The weekly podcast features compelling interviews with scientists, founders and experts who love to talk about space, covers the news that has enthusiasts daydreaming, and engages with listeners. Join David Ariosto, Mike Gruss and journalists from the SpaceNews team for new episodes every Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch a new episode every Thursday on&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/spacenews.com\/\">SpaceNews.com<\/a>&nbsp;and on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@SpaceNewsInc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2EelNYh8QiOM3AuP68nYAr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/au\/channel\/spacenews\/id6744940687\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple<\/a> channels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Be the first to know when new episodes drop! Enter your email, and we\u2019ll make sure you get exclusive access to each episode as soon as it goes live!<\/p>\n\n\n<script>\nvar gform;gform||(document.addEventListener(\"gform_main_scripts_loaded\",function(){gform.scriptsLoaded=!0}),document.addEventListener(\"gform\/theme\/scripts_loaded\",function(){gform.themeScriptsLoaded=!0}),window.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){gform.domLoaded=!0}),gform={domLoaded:!1,scriptsLoaded:!1,themeScriptsLoaded:!1,isFormEditor:()=>\"function\"==typeof InitializeEditor,callIfLoaded:function(o){return!(!gform.domLoaded||!gform.scriptsLoaded||!gform.themeScriptsLoaded&&!gform.isFormEditor()||(gform.isFormEditor()&&console.warn(\"The use of gform.initializeOnLoaded() is deprecated in the form editor context and will be removed in Gravity Forms 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class='gform_description'><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class='gform_required_legend'>&quot;<span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span>&quot; indicates required fields<\/p>\n                        <\/div><form method='post' enctype='multipart\/form-data'  id='gform_54'  action='\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564502' data-formid='54' novalidate>\n                        <div class='gform-body gform_body'><div id='gform_fields_54' class='gform_fields top_label form_sublabel_below description_below validation_below'><div id=\"field_54_15\" class=\"gfield gfield--type-honeypot gform_validation_container field_sublabel_below gfield--has-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><label class='gfield_label gform-field-label' for='input_54_15'>Phone<\/label><div class='ginput_container'><input name='input_15' id='input_54_15' type='text' value='' autocomplete='new-password'\/><\/div><div class='gfield_description' id='gfield_description_54_15'>This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.<\/div><\/div><fieldset id=\"field_54_2\" class=\"gfield gfield--type-name gfield--input-type-name gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_hidden_label gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><legend class='gfield_label gform-field-label gfield_label_before_complex' >Name<span class=\"gfield_required\"><span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span><\/span><\/legend><div class='ginput_complex ginput_container ginput_container--name no_prefix has_first_name no_middle_name has_last_name no_suffix gf_name_has_2 ginput_container_name gform-grid-row' id='input_54_2'>\n                            \n                            <span id='input_54_2_3_container' class='name_first gform-grid-col gform-grid-col--size-auto' >\n                                                    <input type='text' name='input_2.3' 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gfield--type-email gfield--input-type-email gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><label class='gfield_label gform-field-label' for='input_54_1'>Email<span class=\"gfield_required\"><span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span><\/span><\/label><div class='ginput_container ginput_container_email'>\n                            <input name='input_1' id='input_54_1' type='email' value='' class='medium'    aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\"  \/>\n                        <\/div><\/div><div id=\"field_54_4\" class=\"gfield gfield--type-text gfield--input-type-text gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><label class='gfield_label gform-field-label' for='input_54_4'>Company<span class=\"gfield_required\"><span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span><\/span><\/label><div class='ginput_container ginput_container_text'><input name='input_4' id='input_54_4' type='text' value='' class='medium'    placeholder='Company' aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\"   \/><\/div><\/div><div id=\"field_54_6\" class=\"gfield gfield--type-text gfield--input-type-text gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><label class='gfield_label gform-field-label' for='input_54_6'>Title<span class=\"gfield_required\"><span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span><\/span><\/label><div class='ginput_container ginput_container_text'><input name='input_6' id='input_54_6' type='text' value='' class='medium'     aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\"   \/><\/div><\/div><div id=\"field_54_14\" class=\"gfield gfield--type-phone gfield--input-type-phone gfield--width-full field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><label class='gfield_label gform-field-label' for='input_54_14'>Phone<\/label><div class='ginput_container ginput_container_phone'><input name='input_14' id='input_54_14' type='tel' value='' class='large'    aria-invalid=\"false\"   \/><\/div><\/div><div id=\"field_54_12\" class=\"gfield gfield--type-text gfield--input-type-text gfield--width-full gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below gfield--has-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><label class='gfield_label gform-field-label' for='input_54_12'>State<span class=\"gfield_required\"><span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span><\/span><\/label><div class='ginput_container ginput_container_text'><input name='input_12' id='input_54_12' type='text' value='' class='medium'  aria-describedby=\"gfield_description_54_12\"   aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\"   \/><\/div><div class='gfield_description' id='gfield_description_54_12'>State \/ Province \/ Region<\/div><\/div><fieldset id=\"field_54_10\" class=\"gfield gfield--type-address gfield--input-type-address gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><legend class='gfield_label gform-field-label gfield_label_before_complex' >Country<span class=\"gfield_required\"><span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span><\/span><\/legend>    \n                    <div class='ginput_complex ginput_container has_country ginput_container_address gform-grid-row' id='input_54_10' >\n                        <input type='hidden' class='gform_hidden' name='input_10.4' id='input_54_10_4' value=''\/><span class='ginput_left address_country ginput_address_country gform-grid-col' id='input_54_10_6_container' >\n                                        <select name='input_10.6' id='input_54_10_6'   aria-required='true'    ><option value='' selected='selected'><\/option><option value='Afghanistan' >Afghanistan<\/option><option value='Albania' >Albania<\/option><option value='Algeria' >Algeria<\/option><option value='American Samoa' >American Samoa<\/option><option value='Andorra' >Andorra<\/option><option value='Angola' >Angola<\/option><option value='Anguilla' >Anguilla<\/option><option value='Antarctica' >Antarctica<\/option><option value='Antigua and Barbuda' >Antigua and Barbuda<\/option><option value='Argentina' >Argentina<\/option><option value='Armenia' >Armenia<\/option><option value='Aruba' >Aruba<\/option><option value='Australia' >Australia<\/option><option value='Austria' >Austria<\/option><option value='Azerbaijan' >Azerbaijan<\/option><option value='Bahamas' >Bahamas<\/option><option value='Bahrain' >Bahrain<\/option><option value='Bangladesh' >Bangladesh<\/option><option value='Barbados' >Barbados<\/option><option value='Belarus' >Belarus<\/option><option value='Belgium' >Belgium<\/option><option value='Belize' >Belize<\/option><option value='Benin' >Benin<\/option><option value='Bermuda' >Bermuda<\/option><option value='Bhutan' >Bhutan<\/option><option value='Bolivia' >Bolivia<\/option><option value='Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba' >Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba<\/option><option value='Bosnia and Herzegovina' >Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/option><option value='Botswana' >Botswana<\/option><option value='Bouvet Island' >Bouvet Island<\/option><option value='Brazil' >Brazil<\/option><option value='British Indian Ocean Territory' >British Indian Ocean Territory<\/option><option value='Brunei Darussalam' >Brunei Darussalam<\/option><option value='Bulgaria' >Bulgaria<\/option><option value='Burkina Faso' >Burkina Faso<\/option><option value='Burundi' >Burundi<\/option><option value='Cabo Verde' >Cabo Verde<\/option><option value='Cambodia' >Cambodia<\/option><option value='Cameroon' >Cameroon<\/option><option value='Canada' >Canada<\/option><option value='Cayman Islands' >Cayman Islands<\/option><option value='Central African Republic' >Central African Republic<\/option><option value='Chad' >Chad<\/option><option value='Chile' >Chile<\/option><option value='China' >China<\/option><option value='Christmas Island' >Christmas Island<\/option><option value='Cocos Islands' >Cocos Islands<\/option><option value='Colombia' >Colombia<\/option><option value='Comoros' >Comoros<\/option><option value='Congo' >Congo<\/option><option value='Congo, Democratic Republic of the' >Congo, Democratic Republic of the<\/option><option value='Cook Islands' >Cook Islands<\/option><option value='Costa Rica' >Costa Rica<\/option><option value='Croatia' >Croatia<\/option><option value='Cuba' >Cuba<\/option><option value='Cura\u00e7ao' >Cura\u00e7ao<\/option><option value='Cyprus' >Cyprus<\/option><option value='Czechia' >Czechia<\/option><option value='C\u00f4te d&#039;Ivoire' >C\u00f4te d&#039;Ivoire<\/option><option value='Denmark' >Denmark<\/option><option value='Djibouti' >Djibouti<\/option><option value='Dominica' >Dominica<\/option><option value='Dominican Republic' >Dominican Republic<\/option><option value='Ecuador' >Ecuador<\/option><option value='Egypt' >Egypt<\/option><option value='El Salvador' >El Salvador<\/option><option value='Equatorial Guinea' >Equatorial Guinea<\/option><option value='Eritrea' >Eritrea<\/option><option value='Estonia' >Estonia<\/option><option value='Eswatini' >Eswatini<\/option><option value='Ethiopia' >Ethiopia<\/option><option value='Falkland Islands' >Falkland Islands<\/option><option value='Faroe Islands' >Faroe Islands<\/option><option value='Fiji' >Fiji<\/option><option value='Finland' >Finland<\/option><option value='France' >France<\/option><option value='French Guiana' >French Guiana<\/option><option value='French Polynesia' >French Polynesia<\/option><option value='French Southern Territories' >French Southern Territories<\/option><option value='Gabon' >Gabon<\/option><option value='Gambia' >Gambia<\/option><option value='Georgia' >Georgia<\/option><option value='Germany' >Germany<\/option><option value='Ghana' >Ghana<\/option><option value='Gibraltar' >Gibraltar<\/option><option value='Greece' >Greece<\/option><option value='Greenland' >Greenland<\/option><option value='Grenada' >Grenada<\/option><option value='Guadeloupe' >Guadeloupe<\/option><option value='Guam' >Guam<\/option><option value='Guatemala' >Guatemala<\/option><option value='Guernsey' >Guernsey<\/option><option value='Guinea' >Guinea<\/option><option value='Guinea-Bissau' >Guinea-Bissau<\/option><option value='Guyana' >Guyana<\/option><option value='Haiti' >Haiti<\/option><option value='Heard Island and McDonald Islands' >Heard Island and McDonald Islands<\/option><option value='Holy See' >Holy See<\/option><option value='Honduras' >Honduras<\/option><option value='Hong Kong' >Hong Kong<\/option><option value='Hungary' >Hungary<\/option><option value='Iceland' >Iceland<\/option><option value='India' >India<\/option><option value='Indonesia' >Indonesia<\/option><option value='Iran' >Iran<\/option><option value='Iraq' >Iraq<\/option><option value='Ireland' >Ireland<\/option><option value='Isle of Man' >Isle of Man<\/option><option value='Israel' >Israel<\/option><option value='Italy' >Italy<\/option><option value='Jamaica' >Jamaica<\/option><option value='Japan' >Japan<\/option><option value='Jersey' >Jersey<\/option><option value='Jordan' >Jordan<\/option><option value='Kazakhstan' >Kazakhstan<\/option><option value='Kenya' >Kenya<\/option><option value='Kiribati' >Kiribati<\/option><option value='Korea, Democratic People&#039;s Republic of' >Korea, Democratic People&#039;s Republic of<\/option><option value='Korea, Republic of' >Korea, Republic of<\/option><option value='Kuwait' >Kuwait<\/option><option value='Kyrgyzstan' >Kyrgyzstan<\/option><option value='Lao People&#039;s Democratic Republic' >Lao People&#039;s Democratic Republic<\/option><option value='Latvia' >Latvia<\/option><option value='Lebanon' >Lebanon<\/option><option value='Lesotho' >Lesotho<\/option><option value='Liberia' >Liberia<\/option><option value='Libya' >Libya<\/option><option value='Liechtenstein' >Liechtenstein<\/option><option value='Lithuania' >Lithuania<\/option><option value='Luxembourg' >Luxembourg<\/option><option value='Macao' >Macao<\/option><option value='Madagascar' >Madagascar<\/option><option value='Malawi' >Malawi<\/option><option value='Malaysia' >Malaysia<\/option><option value='Maldives' >Maldives<\/option><option value='Mali' >Mali<\/option><option value='Malta' >Malta<\/option><option value='Marshall Islands' >Marshall Islands<\/option><option value='Martinique' >Martinique<\/option><option value='Mauritania' >Mauritania<\/option><option value='Mauritius' >Mauritius<\/option><option value='Mayotte' >Mayotte<\/option><option value='Mexico' >Mexico<\/option><option value='Micronesia' >Micronesia<\/option><option value='Moldova' >Moldova<\/option><option value='Monaco' >Monaco<\/option><option value='Mongolia' >Mongolia<\/option><option value='Montenegro' >Montenegro<\/option><option value='Montserrat' >Montserrat<\/option><option value='Morocco' >Morocco<\/option><option value='Mozambique' >Mozambique<\/option><option value='Myanmar' >Myanmar<\/option><option value='Namibia' >Namibia<\/option><option value='Nauru' >Nauru<\/option><option value='Nepal' >Nepal<\/option><option value='Netherlands' >Netherlands<\/option><option value='New Caledonia' >New Caledonia<\/option><option value='New Zealand' >New Zealand<\/option><option value='Nicaragua' >Nicaragua<\/option><option value='Niger' >Niger<\/option><option value='Nigeria' >Nigeria<\/option><option value='Niue' >Niue<\/option><option value='Norfolk Island' >Norfolk Island<\/option><option value='North Macedonia' >North Macedonia<\/option><option value='Northern Mariana Islands' >Northern Mariana Islands<\/option><option value='Norway' >Norway<\/option><option value='Oman' >Oman<\/option><option value='Pakistan' >Pakistan<\/option><option value='Palau' >Palau<\/option><option value='Palestine, State of' >Palestine, State of<\/option><option value='Panama' >Panama<\/option><option value='Papua New Guinea' >Papua New Guinea<\/option><option value='Paraguay' >Paraguay<\/option><option value='Peru' >Peru<\/option><option value='Philippines' >Philippines<\/option><option value='Pitcairn' >Pitcairn<\/option><option value='Poland' >Poland<\/option><option value='Portugal' >Portugal<\/option><option value='Puerto Rico' >Puerto Rico<\/option><option value='Qatar' >Qatar<\/option><option value='Romania' >Romania<\/option><option value='Russian Federation' >Russian Federation<\/option><option value='Rwanda' >Rwanda<\/option><option value='R\u00e9union' >R\u00e9union<\/option><option value='Saint Barth\u00e9lemy' >Saint Barth\u00e9lemy<\/option><option value='Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha' >Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha<\/option><option value='Saint Kitts and Nevis' >Saint Kitts and Nevis<\/option><option value='Saint Lucia' >Saint Lucia<\/option><option value='Saint Martin' >Saint Martin<\/option><option value='Saint Pierre and Miquelon' >Saint Pierre and Miquelon<\/option><option value='Saint Vincent and the Grenadines' >Saint Vincent and the Grenadines<\/option><option value='Samoa' >Samoa<\/option><option value='San Marino' >San Marino<\/option><option value='Sao Tome and Principe' >Sao Tome and Principe<\/option><option value='Saudi Arabia' >Saudi Arabia<\/option><option value='Senegal' >Senegal<\/option><option value='Serbia' >Serbia<\/option><option value='Seychelles' >Seychelles<\/option><option value='Sierra Leone' >Sierra Leone<\/option><option value='Singapore' >Singapore<\/option><option value='Sint Maarten' >Sint Maarten<\/option><option value='Slovakia' >Slovakia<\/option><option value='Slovenia' >Slovenia<\/option><option value='Solomon Islands' >Solomon Islands<\/option><option value='Somalia' >Somalia<\/option><option value='South Africa' >South Africa<\/option><option value='South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands' >South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands<\/option><option value='South Sudan' >South Sudan<\/option><option value='Spain' >Spain<\/option><option value='Sri Lanka' >Sri Lanka<\/option><option value='Sudan' >Sudan<\/option><option value='Suriname' >Suriname<\/option><option value='Svalbard and Jan Mayen' >Svalbard and Jan Mayen<\/option><option value='Sweden' >Sweden<\/option><option value='Switzerland' >Switzerland<\/option><option value='Syria Arab Republic' >Syria Arab Republic<\/option><option value='Taiwan' >Taiwan<\/option><option value='Tajikistan' >Tajikistan<\/option><option value='Tanzania, the United Republic of' >Tanzania, the United Republic of<\/option><option value='Thailand' >Thailand<\/option><option value='Timor-Leste' >Timor-Leste<\/option><option value='Togo' 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