Washington – An executive of a Maxu Intelligence warned that the US government reduced the operation of the battlefield by cutting funding for commercial satellite imagery, renewing the concerns of the industry raised in the June 1 letter to the Congress.
Susain Hek, General Manager of the US Government at Maxu Intelligence, said, “The industry has proved the value of commercial imagination, speaking on 11 September at an aerospace industry conference organized by the US Chamber of Commerce.
The American fighter command, including the Indo-Pacific command, where Hek has recently met with officials, clarified that “they need more imagery, that whatever is being provided is more demanding than what is being provided,” he said.
The 2026 budget proposal of the Trump administration underlines their remarks in the industry as the 2026 budget proposal progresses through Capital Hill. The scheme asks for a reduction of about 30%-in the procurement of commercial electro-optical imagery under the electro-optical commercial layer program in the $ 130 million-national reconnaissance office. Administration also proposes to eliminate funding for a fully synthetic aperture radar imagery, a capacity widely used, which is used since the invasion of 2022 Ukraine in Russia.
Hek suppressed the case that commercial firms could lead Bespoke to rapid and lower cost compared to government satellites, but require predicted funds and contracts to continue to invest. “We have shown commercial companies that we can distribute on the scale, but to do so, we need longer contracts and frequent funds to be able to build our technology,” he said.
The CEO of Maxu, Planet, Blackski, Issi US, Capella Space and Ground System Provider Kesat warned MPs in June that proposed cuts could “reverse years of progress” in integrating commercial services in national security tasks. Hac’s comment this week shows that the industry is maintaining pressure because what is the weight of the appropriaters or not.
“We are at a point where I think the government needs to decide, do they want to buy the available imagination, which is ready to be deployed, it is proved, or do they want to go alone? And do they really want to continue building Bispoke, high classified systems?” Hek said. “Commercial imagination is now ready to go. It can be used today, or they can wait for six, eight years and spend billions of dollars building systems.”
Colorado-based Maxu Intelligence, a unit of Maxu Technologies, is the largest American supplier of high-resolution electro-optical commercial imagery.
Hek also pointed to the growing international competition. “The ability for the US is that the capacity is not a given. China is actively investing in its commercial remote sensing capabilities,” she said. “I think if we want to win then we need continuous investment.”
