ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. Space Command is updating its approach to integrating commercial systems into operations as the broader national security space community takes a more forward-leaning posture toward working with the private sector.
Gen. Stephen Whiting, who leads the command, said the new strategy, which was signed out in November, focuses on SPACECOM’s core tasks and how commercial space capabilities fit within those areas. The update follows the release of two high-level commercial integration strategies earlier this year — the first from the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the second from the Space Force.
The strategies are part of a larger Defense Department push to better engage with private sector space companies, encouraging the acquisition workforce to look for off-the-shelf systems when possible and developing concepts for how it will leverage commercial technology in future conflicts.
Last year, for example, the Space Force created a Commercial Space Office and charged it with identifying more opportunities to buy commercial systems and services. The service is also in the process of creating a Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, or CASR, which would establish steady-state partnership with private sector companies for space capabilities that could then be surged as needed during a humanitarian crisis or war.
Speaking Wednesday at the Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Florida, Whiting said the primary lines of effort in the updated SPACECOM strategy revolve around advocating and identifying new capabilities, operationalizing that technology and sharing information with commercial partners about threats and other activities happening in the domain.
That work largely aligns with efforts like CASR and the work of the Commercial Space Office. Whiting said SPACECOM is working closely with the Space Force to determine what operational conditions might trigger the need for added capacity from CASR in different mission areas. He told reporters following his speech that commercial support through that program will likely come in waves, depending on how a crisis unfolds.
“Depending on how a situation evolves, there might be additional phases of CASR where we would continue to get more and more capacity,” he said.
SPACECOM also regularly engages with the private sector through its Commercial Integration Cell. The organization was established in 2015 as a pilot enlisting private sector systems to help military space operators identify and resolve issues in orbit.
The command recently expanded the cell’s membership from 10 companies to 15 and will soon add two more. These are firms that do an extensive amount of work with the Defense Department and the intelligence community and as part of the cell, they have access to highly classified space threat information.
Whiting told reporters the five additional companies — BlackSky, Kratos, ICEYE, LeoLabs and Telesat — already provide the National Reconnaissance and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
“We’re able now to provide them information at the highest levels about the threats that are in the domain, and they provide us insights into how their constellations are being affected or operating in the domain,” he said.
As another example of SPACECOM’s commercial integration efforts, Whiting noted that for the first time, the command has included private sector systems on its list of critical space assets. Having non-DOD systems on this list means SPACECOM has an obligation to protect and defend commercial space capabilities when directed, he said.
Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.
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