Guest: Franz Gayl. Topics: SUSTAIN, Marine Corp and space, Commercial and dual use space development. We welcomed Franz Gayl to the program to discuss the SUSTAIN Technology Roadmap and its pending release. In our first segment, Franz spent considerable time explaining the SUSTAIN project, the purpose of the technology roadmap and possible results once it is released. We also talked about the need for new technologies to be multipurpose, multifunction, and dual use because of escalating costs. This was a theme throughout our discussion as you will hear. Government and commercial projects will have a better chance of success if they can used across various platforms and appeal to multiple markets. This includes the SUSTAIN concept. Toward the end of this segment, we discussed governments inability to be fast and responsive as is the case with the commercial industries. You don't want to miss this discussion. During the second segment, we talked about the Marines interest in space. As you will hear, its the capability that drives the interest for the Marines and others, its not space. But if the capability requires space, they are fine with that. Its not about building new, cool spaceships and other space hardware. Its about having specific capabilities. The domain of space is definitely secondary to the mission and capabilities. During this segment, I asked Franz about the news reports of his being a whistleblower in Iraq as a civilian. This is a complicated subject and issue but Franz explained and discussed it well. Being a whistleblower often means going against the culture of the involved organization or group, in this case the Marines and even aspects of DOD. This is an important discussion and demonstrates why leadership is so very crucial for the military, the political types, policy makers, and civilians. This is a must hear and very important discussion. As we started the third and final segment which was about fifteen minutes longer than usual, Dave Hook who was part of the SUSTAIN team with Dr. Jurist and myself called in to ask about the SUSTAIN concept aiding US Forces with future asymmetric threats. You will certainly want to hear this discussion with Franz and David. Next, Franz provided us with the historic background for SUSTAIN and its goal of stopping something that could expand to a major issue and cost for the U.S. Toward the end of this segment, we talked about the Marines and energy and the Expeditionary Energy Office being created. Franz will submit recommendations for SSP to be part of this process but as you will hear, he has no idea if it will survive and make the cuts. We then talked about DOD programs and their costs versus commercial wanting a bottom line and ROI. Since many believe that DOD will ignore the costs unlike the commercials, I asked Franz about that. You might be surprised by his response. Near the end of the show, Lt. Col. Paul Damphousse USMC called in to talk about the heroic role Franz had played in the SUSTAIN roadmap and when the roadmap is made public, both Franz and Paul will be back on the show to focus in on that roadmap in detail. If you have questions or comments for Franz Gayl, you can email him at franz.gayl@gmail.com.
Guest
The Space Show
