SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. –
The Joint Task Force-Space Defense completed its first 2021 Sprint Advanced Concept Training series that featured increased collaboration with sister component Combined Forces Space Component Command/Combined Space Operations Center on April 9.
JTF-SD officials conduct three SACTs annually to further U.S. Space Command’s task to protect and defend the space domain. The training cycles provide continuous opportunities to advance the readiness of current and future space capabilities and warfighting forces to meet the demands of a rapidly changing operational environment. Each training session scales in complexity and collaboration depending on defined objectives. For example, the training can range from narrowly focused on the National Space Defense Center operations or expand to include collaboration throughout the combatant command.
This particular SACT provided the environment to collaborate with CFSCC/CSpOC to further integrate the JTF-SD Commercial Operations cell.
“The JCO model developed in 2020 Sprint Advanced Concept Training series significantly improves commercial integration and mission effectiveness by maximizing operational flexibility and innovation across a multitude of commercial partners,” said Space Force Col. Scott Brodeur, JTF-SD director of operations and NSDC director. “I am really proud of the team and their efforts to get us to this point. They proved we can generate a wide range of protect and defend notifications through commercial sources that are inherently shareable.”
The cell’s unclassified environment enabled the operators to share indication and warning information with commercial partners and to the CFSCC/CSpOC who then coordinates with allies and other international partners.
This SACT validated the ability of the NSDC and CSpOC to work together to quickly disseminate space domain awareness from the JCO to our allies and partners, including Australia, Canada, Great Britain and France, at the unclassified perspective.
The cell’s efforts also serve as a prototype deployment floor, allowing rapid data and application integration at unclassified levels prior to on ramping and integrating with classified data streams.
“The JTF-SD Commercial Operations cell is realizing our vision and actively contributing valuable operational space domain awareness augmentation data to the JTF-SD/NSDC through daily collaboration,” Army Brig. Gen. Tom James, JTF-SD commander, said. “We are excited to see how we can build upon their successes and further integrate this construct across our operations.”
SACTs have been a key component since this organization originally stood up as the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center in 2015, renamed to NSDC in 2016 with the JTF-SD established as its headquarters in 2019. As competitors started fielding counter-space capabilities, leaders thought it prudent to create a center that would be focused on protecting and defending while bringing together the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the National Reconnaissance Office, and representatives across the services with space domain equities to plan, test and experiment in an unprecedented unity of effort.