Tomorrow’s military satellites may not require as much human control, the Space Force’s chief purchasing officer said Thursday.

“I could really imagine that in 10, 15 years, satellites will be much more autonomous than they are today: that they will no longer need operators and will be able to react, take action and do things on their own,” said Frank Calvelli at the NDIA conference “Emerging Technologies for Defense.”

The autonomy of its satellites could allow the service to reduce its dependence on ground-based control stations, which officials say are vulnerable to cyberattacks.

“In my view, ground antennas and ground stations are at risk in a conflict. So I think in the long run you should take advantage of the evolution of the industry and make your constellations as autonomous as possible and eliminate human control,” Calvelli said.

Space Force officials have already outlined some ways they plan to use AI in space, including sifting through reams of data collected by satellites and tracking weapons and other objects in space to free up Sentinels for more important tasks.

Calvelli also described at NDIA how the Pentagon is capitalizing on a “booming space economy” by using commercial satellite bus production lines and launch services. The U.S. has enough commercial space infrastructure to handle increased demand should a major conflict break out, he added.

“We now have rocket launches, sometimes twice a day, with major companies like SpaceX. I think the opportunity is really to leverage the commercial launch and the commercial industrial base of space if we needed to scale up in a conflict like this,” Calvelli said.

The procurement chief, who has been open about his grievances with industry, said he is focused on getting industry to meet cost and schedule targets – and addressing his program managers’ “lack of commitment” to subcontractors on the service’s various space programs.

“I really actively encourage my team, by holding them accountable for all aspects of the program, to get involved at the lowest levels possible. You can bring in the key people if you want, but you’ll also bring in the subcontractors and the lower level suppliers and make sure everything is going according to plan. It’s just a different culture,” he said.