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From the Defense & Aerospace Report... This is The DownLink Podcast, hosted by Laura Winter. From the intersection of space, business, and defense... Not just what's over the horizon, but what's happening above it.
The DownLink Podcast is 2023 and 2024 Defense Media Award-winner.
The DownLink Podcast is 2023 and 2024 Defense Media Award-winner.
195 Episodes
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There’s no Golden Dome requirements shopping list yet, but with an expected $40 billion for FY 2026 the U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations is thinking about how to spend now for the fight tonight and what will be needed by 2040. Appearing in this episode from the Air, Space, Cyber conference are Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman, Commander, Space Systems Command Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant. Laura Winter breaks it down with Todd Harrison, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Representatives from Australia’s burgeoning quantum technology sector are making the rounds, meeting with venture capitalists, U.S. companies, as well as state and federal government officials. Among the subjects discussed are defense, space, and opportunity. Laura Winter speaks with Martin O’Connor, COO, QuantX Labs; Jim Rabeau, CEO and Co-Founder, Deteqt; and Daniel Hunter, Partnership Development Manager, Quantum Australia.
Nigeria, the most populous African nation, has the continent’s third largest standing military and fourth largest economy. The West African nation operates four sovereign satellites and has ambitions to become a space economy leader and space technology exporter. Laura Winter speaks with Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd. (NIGCOMSAT) CEO and Managing Director Jane Egerton-Idehen.
Artificial Intelligence will be necessary for Golden Dome, or Next Generation Missile Defense, to work, but how, and for what exactly? And what about the humans? Laura Winter speaks with Alexander Kott, an early AI researcher and the Chief Scientist of the Army Research Laboratory from 2016 to 2023.
When then presidential candidate Donald Trump made a promise to create a Space National Guard, he received a standing ovation. Now 12 months later, that promise is broken, with far reaching and costly effects. Laura Winter speaks with National Guard Association President Maj. Gen. (ret.) Frank McGinn; and Director of Joint Staff, Joint Force Headquarters, Colorado, Brig. Gen. Michael Bruno, who is the National Guard Association’s Task Force Space Chair.
It’s one of the biggest contracts that Space Systems Command has awarded that you haven’t heard about - the $4 billion Space Force Range Contract awarded to Amentum. The price tag is big because so is this operations and commercial customer-facing job, which should grow along with the increasing cadence of space launch. Laura Winter speaks with Randy Lycans, Amentum’s Senior Vice President and Program Director for Space Force Range Contract (SFRC)
What does the Golden Dome and the plus-up in money for the Space Force and other defense-related space systems tell us about the Trump Administration’s national defense strategy? And is it sustainable? Laura Winter speaks with Peter Garretson, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, and co-author of the book “The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy”; and Sam Wilson, Director, Strategy and Program Support, Center for Space Policy and Strategy, at The Aerospace Corporation. Wilson’s report, “FY 2026 Defense Space Budget: Emergence of Golden Dome”, can be found here: https://csps.aerospace.org/papers/fy-2026-defense-space-budget-emergence-golden-dome
This week the U.S. Space Force concluded its largest service-wide exercise that also included officers from Allied and Partner nations in leadership positions. Lessons from the exercise will be used to better inform the implementation of the Space Force’s new International Partnership Strategy. Laura Winter speaks with Air Marshal Paul “Godders” Godfrey, the Assistant Chief of Space Operations for Future Concepts and Partnerships, and the highest-ranking non-U.S. officer serving in the Space Force. He was the Director of the 609th Air Operations Centre in Al Udeid before becoming the inaugural Commander of U.K. Space Command.
Now that the U.S. Senate has confirmed Lt. Shawn Bratton’s fourth star and his nomination to become the next U.S. Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations, there will be a new Deputy Chief of Space Operations, Strategy, Plans, Programs and Requirements. And that’s an opportunity to drag the Space Force out of the Feudal Age into the 21st Century’s Space Age. Laura Winter speaks with Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and much respected NASA and Defense Department budget diviner.
According to the Space Foundation the Global Space Economy grew by 7.8% to reach a valuation of $613 billion dollars in 2024. What’s behind the new big number? Laura Winter speaks with Lesley Conn, the Space Foundation’s Director of Research and Digital Programming
While the White House and Congress wrangle over NASA’s budget and the fate of the Space Launch System, China is unwavering in laying the foundation for its expansion into the space domain, including on the moon. Laura Winter speaks with Josh Carslon, author of the book, “Spacepower Ascendant: Space Development Theory and a New Space Strategy”.
With Wall Street indices at new highs, plus a roughly $40B FY2026 budget for the U.S. Space Force, and the tens of billions the Trump Administration wants to spend on the missile defense program "Golden Dome," is it time to pop the champagne? Laura Winter speaks with The DownLink Podcast regulars Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Space; and George Pullen, Partner and Chief Economist at MilkyWayEconomy.
The Trump Administration’s 2026 budget for the U.S. Space Force, counting the Big Beautiful Bill’s funding, comes to about $40 billion dollars. Does this unorthodox, difficult to follow, bifurcated legislative process make this bump “ a one-time sugar high?” Laura Winter speaks with Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and much respected NASA and Defense Department budget diviner; and Sam Wilson, Director, Strategy and Program Support, Center for Space Policy and Strategy, at The Aerospace Corporation.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said that in preparation for Operation Midnight Hammer, two Defense Threat Reduction Agency analysts studied activities at the Fordo Uranium Enrichment Plant for 15 years by pouring over imagery. That was satellite imagery, which is now at risk of being cut according to the White House’s FY2026 budget request for the National Reconnaissance Office. Laura Winter speaks with Susanne Hake, General Manager of Maxar Intelligence’s U.S. Government business; Hector Falcon, Watch Center Director at the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space-ISAC); and Clint Clark, Vice President of First Impressions at ExoAnalytic Solutions.
As Australia’s former Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for additions to the 2021 AUKUS Agreement that would strengthen the security pact in the space domain, Australian space companies began a tour of the United States to find partners and investors. Laura Winter speaks with Steven Marshall, South Australia’s former Premier, now President of the American Australian Association; Jeremey Hallett Chairman of Southern Launch, and Chairman of Australia’s Space Industry Association; and Matt Tetlow, Founder & CEO of Inovor Technologies.
Elon Musk regrets “some” of his recent posts about U.S. President Donald Trump. Phew! But their relationship’s rapid unscheduled disassembly, or RUD, reveals how vulnerable civil and national security missions, even the “Golden Dome” program, are to the dramatic vagaries of this relationship. Laura Winter speaks with Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and much respected NASA and Defense Department budget diviner.
The Trump-Musk “bromance” break-up is clearly visible on the world stage and worrying many about just how far and how deep the fallout will be for space and defense. What’s not-so-visible, are the aggressive tactics and techniques - lawsuits, loans, proxies and pirates - that fall-below the threshold of “acts of war”. That’s “gray warfare” in the space domain. How would you know it if you saw it? Laura Winter speaks with Dean Cheng, a sought after China-U.S. relations expert, and non-resident Fellow at both the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and the George Washington University Space Policy Institute; and also from GWU, retired Navy Cmdr. John "Patsy" Klein, who recently authored the book, “Fight for the Final Frontier: Irregular Warfare in Space.”
This week’s episode details what happened when the CEO of a European-US space company bought into a shareholder fight involving two Chinese government-backed entities, that are deeply involved with the Thousand Sails mega-constellation - China’s answer to Starlink. This is a deep dive into lawfare in the space domain, a growing costly concern for the U.S. and its Allies. Laura Winter speaks with Declan Ganley, CEO of Rivada Space Networks; and Dean Cheng, a sought after China-U.S. relations expert, and non-resident Fellow at both the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and the George Washington University Space Policy Institute.
The $318 million IonQ purchase deal to acquire Capella Space is bringing together two worlds in a high-stakes bid to radically change satellite-to-satellite and satellite-to-ground communications and computing at the edge. At least that's what the CEOs are saying. Are they right? Also, up top in this episode is a space threats update. Laura Winter speaks with Niccolo de Masi, IonQ’s President and CEO; Frank Backes, CEO of Capella Space; and Hector Falcon, the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s Watch Center Director.
This week planet Earth is seeing two re-entries of man-made objects: first the uncontrolled, possibly life-threatening, Soviet-era Kosmos 482; and second, the W-3 - an example of the very controlled, defense and in some cases possibly life-extending, business case that is Varda Space Industries. Laura Winter speaks with Delian Asparouhov, Varda Space Industries’ co-Founder and President, and Partner at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund; and Muk Pandian, Varda’s Director of Strategic Partnerships and Advanced Concepts.
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