Safeguarding Space Sovereignty: My Conversation with Boeing’s Kay Sears

Author: David Fields

I recently had the honor of moderating a fireside chat at the Defense in Space Conference with Kay Sears, Vice President & General Manager, Space, Intelligence & Weapons Systems at Boeing. Our conversation touched on several key topics dominating the industry, including current and future threats to space operations. ?We also discussed how partnership and being a flexible, agile, trusted space partner will be the key to countering new and emerging threats and helping the warfighter successfully navigate a continuously evolving multipolar landscape. ?

At SES Space & Defense , we strive daily to be that valued space partner to our clients, especially governments and alliances, in concert with great collaborators like Kay and Boeing.

Below are five key takeaways from our conversation:

1.?????? Embracing Multi-Orbit Satellite Architectures

With the shift towards multi-orbit architectures, diversification will significantly affect how industry and government collaborate and guard against existing security threats. Sears mentioned there has been a lot of hype around Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations, but they are not the only solution for mission requirements. Instead, we should consider an "and" approach, utilizing assets in LEO, Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO), and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) to achieve greater resiliency and flexibility. Organizations like the U.S. Space Force's Space Warfighting Analysis Center (SWAC) recognize this multi-orbit strategy as a more effective way to address mission needs and requirements.

"We should consider an "and" approach, utilizing assets in LEO, Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO), and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) to achieve greater resiliency and flexibility." - Kay Sears

2.?????? Addressing Commercial Integration

We see greater commercial integration in government missions, such as the U.S. Space Force's use of commercial satellites for Protected Tactical SATCOM (PTS) payloads. While this step yields advantages, including greater efficiency and ultimately lower costs, there are also challenges in ensuring seamless, secure collaboration between commercial operators and governments. Sears emphasized the importance of clear communication and understanding each other's unique requirements.

I agree it’s essential to establish clear lines of responsibility and liability, create joint decision-making mechanisms, define process roadmaps, and mitigate risks so that one actor does not dominate positioning and response. ?

"It’s essential to establish clear lines of responsibility and liability, create joint decision-making mechanisms, define process roadmaps, and mitigate risks so that one actor does not dominate positioning and response." - David Fields

3.?????? Creating Flexible Solutions

We can achieve a more cost-effective and flexible solution by hosting payloads on commercial satellites while maintaining compatibility with existing terminals. Sears highlighted the example of the PTS payloads, which aims to increase the amount of protected SATCOM available for military and ally use. In modern combat, agility is more important than ever – and one-track sovereign solutions are not always the optimal path for the warfighter or the taxpayer.

4.?????? Protecting our Satellites

As commercial satellites and assets become increasingly integrated into sovereign missions, they will become targets of greater significance for our adversaries. Therefore, it’s vital that our government partners protect and defend industry space assets.

Sears highlighted that the devil is in the details of defending space assets, and commercial operators must engage in thorough discussions about asset protection, threat response, and potential vulnerabilities while providing military capabilities to ensure national security. At the same time, governments and allied missions must coordinate with the private sector to secure what is in the national and regional interest when threats arise, including proactive measures.

"It’s vital that our government partners protect and defend industry space assets." - Kay Sears

5.?????? Accounting for Vulnerabilities

Balancing commercial technology flexibility with high security for national defense is a challenge. Governments should avoid over-dependence on specific providers but rather specify multi-carrier communication units that work across various systems, such as SES's O3b and O3b mPOWER satellite constellations.

Sears underscored that we must get the policy right and address vulnerabilities to meet citizens’ needs. Policy is our roadmap, and finding ways to be more inclusive of the private sector means taxpayers, warfighters, and leaders can benefit from innovative solutions, resourcing, diverse perspectives, and skills as we work together to ensure strong partnerships, secure defense, and seamless communication architecture.

Modern defense means rethinking how partners work together, serve missions, and innovate – all with greater efficiencies and cost savings for taxpayers in the U.S. and worldwide.

We are genuinely excited about what the future holds for us and companies like Boeing as we look forward to critical advances in space policy, growing awareness of the importance of this new frontier – and how we can all collaborate for a better, safer world and beyond.

"Governments should avoid over-dependence on specific providers but rather specify multi-carrier communication units that work across various systems, such as SES's O3b and O3b mPOWER satellite constellations." - Kay Sears

?