COVER STORY • The Future of Space as Global Commons • 8

EInterview with Wallis Laughrey, Vice President of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems

xploring the Future in Spacein Dealing with Changes in
the Business Environment

By Japan SPOTLIGHT
The space business is facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges as competition among
nations and firms intensifies. How do business people within the industry see the current situation? Weinterviewed Wallis Laughrey, vice president of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, a leading US
company and the largest contributor to the global space industry.
(Interviewed on May 23, 2018)

Introduction
JS: Could you give a brief selfintroduction, including yourprofessional career in the spacebusiness? I have learned that
Raytheon was originally founded in
1925 as a military business but
recently has moved into the spaceindustry under the name Raytheon
Space and Airborne Systems. Could
you also give a brief summary ofRaytheon’s involvement in the spacebusiness?

The most recent is the Visible Infrared
Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor, a
key program of the Joint Polar Satellite
System, and we continue to develop. Space is atechnology-differentiated business so we
continue to develop new technologies andsystems that span the gamut of our customers’
missions.
JS: Just a minor point to be clarified,
Raytheon’s headquarters is in
Massachusetts, but Raytheon Spaceand Airborne Systems seems tohave two main offices — one in
Texas and the other California,
where you are now. Is that correct?

Laughrey: First, about my background. I went
to the United States Air Force Academy and
Laughrey: Raytheon Space and Airborne
served in the Air Force for approximately six
Wallis Laughrey
Systems is headquartered in McKinney, Texas,
years, where I served in the airport spaceand Raytheon Space Systems is headquartered in El Segundo,
command headquarters and developed software and command andCalifornia.
control systems. When I transitioned to industry, I worked in spaceprotection and airborne programs. For the last two years, I have run
the space business at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems.
A Variety of Space Business Activities
The history of Raytheon’s involvement in space goes back almost
JS: Your company seems to be working on a wide
50 years, everything from developing the initial technology that
range of space businesses — radars and sensors
beamed back Neil Armstrong’s words from the surface of the moonand communications/warfare solutions, as well as(“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”) to building
research areas such as linguistics and quantum
visible and infrared instruments for weather, earth science andcomputing. Which part of the business are you mostremote sensing. That history is quite successful. We have a 100%
focused on today? Cyber-threat protection, space
successful turn-on rate after launch with over 100 sensors delivered
launches, or GPS control? I think GPS control is veryon orbit at all orbital regimes, for more than 500 instrument years inimportant as a space business, for air traffic
space. We continue to lead in this segment of the market in space;management, Earth monitoring and so on, but which
examples of this include Raytheon’s development of the first weatherof these do you think is the most important?
imager from geosynchronous orbit, the first dedicated land imager,commercial ocean color imager, and a number of other instruments.
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COVER STORY 8

Photo: Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems

JPSS-1 Launch — Launched aboard NOAA-20 in November 2017, VIIRS provides an unprecedented level of detail that
contributes to more precise weather forecasts.

Laughrey: As you pointed out, Space and Airborne Systems has abroad portfolio of sensors — tactical, surveillance, electronic
warfare, and integrated systems for military, civil and internationalcustomers around the world.
For me, from the space perspective, my portfolio includes
advanced missile warning systems; Earth observation climate
monitoring; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR)
systems; and a whole range of space protection strategic systems.
An example is the VIIRS sensor. We build VIIRS for NASA and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), providing
state-of-the-art Earth monitoring for decision-making. It is available
and utilized by the international community for weather prediction,and provides very comprehensive coverage, high sensitivity andaccuracy for prediction, ocean color, agriculture and forestry data.
VIIRS provides a new way to observe Earth from space with lowlight imaging that we call the “day-night band”.
We leverage our technology and capabilities across our range ofcustomers. Another good example of this is that we are building the
payloads for the WorldView Legion constellation with Maxar’s
DigitalGlobe, which will provide the next generation of imagery forthe commercial industry. The fundamental basis of these payloads isa portfolio of technology that we have invested in, which allows us toprovide these types of capabilities to our customers.
JS: How about big data? Data dissemination seems tobe very important for the space business in the
future. Do you have some focus on this area?

Laughrey: Absolutely. Another part of Raytheon does groundsystems, processing of data and the dissemination of data. We dosome processing at Space Systems for instruments that we build.
What I would specifically say is very important relative to theburgeoning market of new systems producing all this data is thequality of the data. As a sensor builder, it is critical that we build
sensors that provide the quality of the data, the knowledge andintegrity of the data so that our customers can exploit it in manydifferent ways.
Coming back to VIIRS, it is a fantastic example because the data ispublicly available, and we are always finding that there are users who
are figuring out new ways to use data coming from the sensor thatwas never previously contemplated. Users are finding new ways to
exploit the data, and as a hardware designer, for us, we are really on
the cutting edge of the implementation of focal planes, electronics
and other areas that allow the downstream user of the data to find
new ways to solve their problems, leveraging the systems that webuild.
JS: A large part of the space business seems to berelated to national security, since 30–70% of eachnational government’s budget for space development
seems to be used for national security. In this regard,
do you think the US government’s defense strategy
in the future will seriously affect your business?

Laughrey: We are seeing an increase in future investments, but theJapan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 201835

COVER STORY 8

company and Space Systems, in particular, could not be betteraligned with the US National Defense Strategy. The call for increased
and sustained investment to counter Russia and China’s activities
and sustained efforts against North Korea, Iran, and terrorism — ourcommon threads really necessitate the need for broad global
cooperation. We are carefully assessing the gaps that we have in our
technologies and partnering with our industry teammates, countries
and companies to bring capabilities to bear for our government orinternational customers. It absolutely has an effect, and we are in a
lot of discussions right now across the globe with customers, inparticular US government customers, to understand what their needs
are and offer solutions.
JS: Are you also working closely with academics?
Laughrey: Yes, we have a very broad portfolio of teammates andpartners. Technology is what drives us in many cases, so we work
extensively with US Federally Funded Research and Development
Centers, universities, other industry teammates and certainly withgovernments.
JS: In light of strengthening the national defense

system today, as you mentioned, delivering
intelligence technology would be very important. In
particular, I am interested in cyber-threat protection;
do you think cyber-security will increase inimportance in defense strategy?

Laughrey: The impact of cyber-security reaches beyond just thedefense strategy. It impacts all of our lives and is built into
everything that we produce. Space is no longer a pure safe harbor so
we have to build the same type of protection into all of our systems,
regardless of who they are built for — commercial, international —so I absolutely agree with you on the importance of cyber-security.
JS: Besides cyber-security, what do you think will be
the next frontier for defense opportunities?
Laughrey: We know there is a mountain of data out there that iscontinuing to grow; and it’s a question of sifting through all of thatdata and finding ways to use it to solve problems. The informationout there needs to be connected end-to-end — from the hardware
builder to the use-case or problem that you are trying to solve. Fromthe people who supply the hardware, to the people who are flying it,
to the people that are selling the data, and the people using the data
— there is a gap in there. The people on the analytics side are still
36 Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 2018

trying to understand the full capability of the sensors flying so they
can leverage the information to support solving their problems. At
the end of the day, that is where there is an enormous amount ofopportunity — finding ways to leverage data.
JS: Besides technologies related to national security

or defense strategy, perhaps weather forecasting or
national resources management constitute the otherimportant incentives for improving yourtechnologies. Would you concur?

Laughrey: We build systems and provide the ability to exploit
various phenomenology. A downstream user who has a problem
where they are trying to look at utilization of natural resources, may
turn to, as a good example, VIIRS for tracking or monitoring
elements of the ocean. VIIRS is an example where we build systems
that are not necessarily intentionally built to achieve only one
mission; it has the capability of multiple missions. Going back todata, the sensor has a set of capabilities to exploit a broad portion of
the spectrum, which will allow somebody to solve a certain problem.
Many of our systems are used for elements of monitoring theenvironment or looking at changes in the environment that have adownstream effect on natural resource management.
JS: According to news sources, you have expressedinterest to have the US Department of Defense (DOD)
meet its weather monitoring needs. I think theseneeds would be emerging as the next frontier ofdefense opportunities. Why would weather
monitoring constitute an important defense
opportunity?
Laughrey: Weather is critical, not just for commercial needs or civilcommunities for forecasting, it is also absolutely critical for a lot of
defense customers. The VIIRS system that we built was, from theoutset, also built to meet the DOD’s forecasting requirements. The
sensor was built to fly in what we call the early morning orbit — andthat orbit is specific for military weather monitoring. We often say
VIIRS is “mission ready” — it has a hot production line. What we aretrying to advocate is that the DOD is already using VIIRS for its
mission planning and weather monitoring today, it is just not flying
in the exact orbit to meet all of its weather needs. We are already atrusted source for the mission critical weather information and withthe hot production line we have, it can ensure the continuous
delivery of mission critical data for mission planning.

COVER STORY 8

Photo: Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems

Raytheon Space Systems VIIRS instrument goes through rigorous testing to ensure it is ready for space. Here a Raytheon engineer
inspects the JPSS-2 VIIRS instrument following testing in the thermal vacuum chamber.

Photo: Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems

After an incredibly cold workout in the thermal vacuum chamber, Raytheon’s third VIIRS instrument is ready for the extreme
temperatures and vacuum of space.

Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 201837

COVER STORY 8

JS: Commercial customers are also very important, in

addition to government customers. Today, you seemto be keen to attract commercial customers bygetting into the commercial imaging market by
manufacturing high-resolution imagers. Will this be a
new trend for your business?

Laughrey: We always ask, what is our customer’s mission
requirement? We have a long history of building optical payloads
and taking innovative approaches based on a portfolio oftechnologies that are simple in design but ready to be manufactured
and produced at an affordable cost. Rather than deliberately going
into the commercial sphere, it is more the case that a customer has aproblem that aligns with our technologies and the execution modelthat we have to build a program.
JS: High-resolution imagers are one example, but doyou also produce telescopes, detectors and othercommercial products? Do you have any plans to
attract commercial customers for such products?

Laughrey: Another part of our business builds detectors and focal
planes, some of which have commercial products. We did notnecessarily set out to cultivate the commercial market. We are verymuch about developing technologies that we believe aredifferentiated and provide our customers with the most capable
solutions at an affordable price. Our strategy and approach istechnological differentiation that supports our customers’ needs.

Space Ventures Today
JS: Are you interested in cooperating with spaceventures, in particular working on commercial
products such as high-resolution images to takephotos of parking lots and providing the businessinformation obtained with those images to some
private companies?
Laughrey: We assess each opportunity as it comes. We have had anumber of discussions with commercial partners and if ourtechnology offers a solution at an affordable price then we aredefinitely interested. We don’t necessarily actively seek out
commercial business, but if it is an imaging product or a new
payload with a new telescope and a detector with something that webuild, we will absolutely pursue it.

38 Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 2018

JS: I’d like to ask your personal opinion about spaceventures. It seems to attract a lot of attention, inparticular in California.
Laughrey: It is good for the industry, no doubt about it. I am
optimistic, especially as we see launch costs going down. I think it’s
good that we are going to see a lot of businesses’ systems on orbit
whereas in the past they couldn’t get to orbit because it was too
expensive. I’m definitely excited. It’s good for all of us in theindustry. It’s good for our customers. We also see a new generationof engineers coming into the business, so it’s good across the board.
JS: Today, Japanese ventures seem to be working

hard also in the areas of space debris removal andother similar business, but the cost does provide ahigh entry barrier. In the case of the US, there seemto be a lot of billionaires who can start spaceventures. Would you agree?

Laughrey: There are a lot of privately funded ventures in the US. It’san exciting time to be in the space business.

International Picture of the Business
JS: In your financial highlights, 68% of total sales are
domestic and 32% are international. Do you think thiswill continue for a while?
Laughrey: The company in 2017 had record international sales andthat is continuing to grow. It is core to the global growth strategy
and we approach each country as a market with multiple customers.
We have a long histor y of international collaboration andpartnerships across the globe, and bringing Raytheon products fromaround the company to support many of our international partners
has been certainly very good for the company, and also very goodfor international cooperation across the board. I would definitely
expect it to continue to grow.
JS: The US market share of the global satellite market

is around 60%, much higher than any other country.
China seems to be spending so much money on thespace business. How do you see global competitionin the space business changing in the future?

Laughrey: Across the board there is definitely more competition,
more players in the global satellite market. I don’t see that changing

COVER STORY 8

anytime soon; you can just look at the number of new satellites thatare being launched into lower orbit. The geosynchronous orbit is alot harder to get to. If you look at the new space ventures that arepopping up, we are watching really rapid expansion of thesecompanies. Global competition is a good thing because it drives
down cost, and it increases the supplier base for critical subsystems
for satellites. One of the challenges in the economics of spacebeyond the high cost of launch is the fact that traditionally ourindustrial base has not built a lot of satellites. But now we arewatching a larger quantity being built, which will drive down costs
across the board. The competition is there and is definitely notsomething that changes our outlook. We are well positioned to meetmany of our customer’s needs.

our talent and bring our capabilities to bear for our customers.
However, I’m reminded always that we are challenging our engineers
and teams to think outside the box and go farther as it is win-win
when we solve really hard problems that help make the world a safer
place or solve our customers’ hardest problems.
As we look forward, there is a whole range of opportunities inhuman space exploration, earth observation and, as you mentioned,debris mitigation, space traffic management and asteroid mining.
There are many exciting opportunities and they are almost limitless.
It used to be called the final frontier but I think we are only beginningto see the opportunities in front of us and we will be pushing thelimits of technology to get there, which is very exciting.

JS: In light of the global market share, the US is first,

exploration on the Moon and Mars. Would thatprovide new opportunities and technologies?

followed by Europe and then China and Russia, andJapan. Japan’s market share is very small. How
would you assess the Japanese space business?

Laughrey: We are spending more time to learn about it. Our export
regulations for many years have meant that we have not been able tohave a lot of dialogue about space, but we are starting to have morediscussions. I am certainly excited about the opportunities and being
able to engage in the Japanese market in particular. As you think
about the challenges in the Pacific region, space brings a lot ofcapabilities, and we certainly have a lot of matched capabilities that
we are interested in assessing. We are also interested inunderstanding more about the needs and the market place in Japan.

Long-term Perspective on the Space Business
JS: What do you think are the challenges andopportunities for the space business in the long run?
For example, costs, additional requirements fromgovernment due to possible changes in defense
strategy, increased needs to adjust services andproduct provision to a shorter timeframe forcustomers, etc.?
Laughrey: I think that one of the biggest opportunities we are going
to see is a decrease in launch costs, and the frequency of launches.
That will drive us into a situation where space becomes much moreaccessible and the speed at which we deliver systems will also
increase. We are always pushing the edge of technology for spacesystems, so I struggle with the word “challenge”. Even when we aresolving some hard problems, it is an opportunity to grow some of

JS: It appears that there are new moves afoot to start

Laughrey: As you look at the long-term exploration road map that isbeing coordinated by NASA, there is a whole set of terrestrial
technologies and capabilities that are going to become critical as we
look to manned exploration beyond the Moon. Really understanding
the technologies that we use today in everyday life and making themcapable to be used in space — those are aspects that we are looking
at today.
JS: Global climate change is a challenge tohumankind. Observation of space would seem to bea very important tool in helping to mitigate climatechange. How do you see your business contributing
to this?
Laughrey: We provide capabilities that our customers use to solve
their problems. We provide a capability with VIIRS that NASA andNOAA use, really state-of-the-art for Earth monitoring and improved
decision making. We provide capabilities that our customers use tosolve their problems. VIIRS really allows more and more operational
weather forecasting, and agriculture and forestry-related products.
We provide sensors to our customers for them to assess and tackle
the problems that they are working on.Written with the cooperation of Mayu Fukutani who is a freelance translator.

Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 201839