Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel: Space, the Not-So-Final Frontier

Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, commander of the United States Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), was named the Air Force Association’s (AFA) 2007 Gen. Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy winner earlier this summer for his outstanding contribution to the nation's progress in aerospace. A bronze plaque will be given to Hamel at the AFA Air Force Ball in Beverly Hills, Calif., in November. The award is named for General White, who served as the fourth Air Force chief of staff from 1957 to 1961. Previous recipients of the award include astronauts, major command commanders and Secretaries of the Air Force.

Under Hamel's leadership, SMC recently had its 51st successful space launch in a row, which SMC officials consider an unparalleled accomplishment in military space history. He serves not only as the center’s commander but also as the Air Force program executive officer (AFPEO) for space, leading more than 5,000 personnel with an annual budget of more than $10 billion.

Hamel has been assigned to SMC several times throughout his career. He played a role in the creation of the Global Positioning System (GPS), from its beginnings in the 1970s to its worldwide use today, and has overseen the advance of global missile warning systems. His strategic vision and hands-on expertise across all facets of the space enterprise guided the center to recognition as the preeminent development and acquisition center for space within the Department of Defense.

Dateline visited Hamel at his SMC office, located at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, Calif., where the CSU Dominguez Hills M.B.A. graduate (’74) shared his vision for space with its not-so-final frontiers.

Dateline: What is one of the greatest challenges in the aerospace industry today?

Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel: We need a highly skilled engineering and technical workforce for development, production, assembly, integration and testing. Our big challenge now is rebuilding the workforce. Most are concentrated right here in the South Bay and the greater Los Angeles areas, the largest concentration of aerospace industry in the country and probably the world. We’re putting a lot more engineering and mission assurance rigor back into our developments and concentrating on rebuilding a workforce to make sure we have that rigor.

Dateline: What are some of SMC’s greatest contributions to national security at home and abroad?

Hamel: The systems we develop and operate are primarily to support military operations around the globe. In the global war on terror, there is a lot of focus on the Middle East, but there are other places where we deal with crises and threats.

We can refocus space capabilities in minutes anywhere on the face of the earth and can provide communications capabilities to monitor other areas simultaneously. Space allows us to have a global presence so we don’t need forces all over the world. With a first-responder capability, our military can operate efficiently on a moment’s notice virtually any place on earth.

When the tsunami hit in the Indian Ocean a couple of years ago, within minutes of the first alert we were able to get space capabilities focused to learn how the disaster occurred, to determine the extent of the damage and to decide the best ways to set up communications and humanitarian relief operations. When hurricanes hit our Gulf Coast over a year ago, most of the terrestrial infrastructure, including communications and highways, were wiped out. Space operations came in and provided communication, surveyed the areas and rapidly brought military forces in to respond to the crisis.

Dateline: To what do you credit more than 50 successful space launches at SMC?

Hamel: There’s nothing particularly cosmic about it just excruciating attention to detail and plain hard work. We emphasize a back-to-basics strategy where attention to detail is everything. This is a business where you don’t get a second chance to do it right. When you launch a satellite, the rocket has to work perfectly or it’s a complete failure. Likewise with a satellite once in orbit, you can’t go up and tinker with it; it’s got to be built correctly the first time.

Our current record of 51 successful launches rests on the foundation of having thorough understanding of the designs, careful tracking of how components are assembled and integrated and finally testing and proof that we have a reliable rocket before launch day.

Dateline: How has the mission of SMC evolved over the years?

Hamel: I have served at SMC four times during my career and have been able to see the evolution of the center and the space business for the last 35 years. Over the decades, we’ve gone from the initial tentative steps of putting a satellite into orbit to the point that it is a routine part of everyday life here.

Up until the 1990s, much of what we had done in space and in the Department of Defense was focused on the Cold War. After that, we had this period with a ‘peace dividend.’ Budgets came down and we were spending less on some of our systems, while at the same time, the dependence and demand for space technology was going up. We needed a strategy of how we were going to continue to provide space services. We also decided we were going to try to leverage more commercial investment in space capabilities with consumer-based industries like direct broadcast television systems.

We have to continue to deliver the programs we have while creating systems for the future that will make a huge difference. GPS was conceived here in the mid-1970s. Now, three decades later, we see the power of that system. Apart from its military uses, GPS basically synchronizes the world. Probably the most extensive use of GPS is how it allows us to precisely synchronize our communications and cellular networks around the world. We’ve got to make sure the systems we create today have a like influence decades down the road and will be expanded far beyond simply military applications. We want to make sure we create the right kind of systems for the future that will push the frontiers of technology.

Dateline: How does SMC contribute to ensuring the safety of our troops in combat?

Hamel: Space technology is a part of planning and executing air, land or naval military operations. GPS, one of our flagship programs, is embedded in every aspect of military operations today on the battlefield, from guiding how troops maneuver when convoys are traveling across Iraq to using satellite communications that connect us with imagery back home. We’re at the point now where individual weapons, bombs and artillery shells are guided to their targets by GPS, literally within a few feet of their intended target.

Dateline: What do you look forward to achieving in the future at SMC?

Hamel: This facility and the surrounding area is the birthplace of all military space programs and efforts dating back to 1954. Since then, we’ve gone from building ballistic missiles and responding to the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, to a kind of mid-century point in terms of mankind’s spaceflight experience. It is an opportune time to reflect upon both our history in space as well as where we are going in the future relative to the exploration of space for our national security.

In the next year or two, we will have the first-time launch of five new satellite systems that represent a major set of capabilities for military users in the field. One, for example, is being finalized at Boeing in El Segundo. It is called the Wideband Global Satellite Communications system. The first satellite we launch will have more capacity than all the constellations in orbit today. This represents more than a tenfold increase in capacity just from that one satellite system.

We have four other new first-of-a-kind satellites that will also go into orbit in the next one to two years. Each represents an increase in ability to military operators as well as new mission capability in surveillance for ballistic missiles, other targets and keeping track of everything that is in space. We’re in the middle of getting one system on contract. It is an advanced communication satellite that includes Internet switching on the satellite. Anybody on the ground can log in on their computer and, with Internet communications through a satellite system in orbit, get connected to anyone else who’s authorized.

All of these achievements make us very proud. We are making major new advances for not only our military users but also for the nation. Our continued leadership in space is absolutely critical for our success and well-being as a nation.

- Reported by Joanie Harmon