Schriever Wargame 2010 - Air Force Space Command

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help
others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for
me
~ Brian Tracy, American business author
As military practitioners, the defense applications of space
are usually foremost in our minds; however, we should not forget
the panoply of civil and commercial space assets that support
our critical national infrastructure and influence the way in
which we go about our daily lives. With this in mind, industry
also has a stake in ensuring that users of the space domain adhere
to generally accepted norms of responsible behavior, in
order to preserve the environment for future generations. Such
behavior could include minimizing the creation of orbital debris,
preventing interference within the electromagnetic spectrum
and reducing the risk of collisions in space. Monitoring
(or even policing) these behaviors throughout the global space
medium is a mammoth task and one which the military cannot
achieve alone. The integration of industry into our efforts to
sense, warn, and attribute actions in space (collectively termed
space situational awareness [SSA]) would alleviate some of the
resource burden and potentially open up new streams of vital
SSA information.
Today commercial owners and operators of space assets far
outnumber government users of space (including defense). By
building strong relationships with our indigenous civil space
companies, and those of our allies, we may gain access to orbital
data which previously would have only been available by
tasking military space surveillance networks. So instead of
wasting valuable sensor resources tracking friendly satellites,
we should set the conditions for industry to be able to share data
with us to improve our collective space security. After all, improved
space security further protects the revenue streams that
industry derives from its space products and services.
But the contribution that industry could make to SSA extends
far beyond providing accurate positional data on their
satellites. As experts in the finer technical details of satellite
design, manufacture, and operation, industry could help
us achieve another level of granularity in our surveillance of
space—turning ‘awareness’ into ‘understanding.’ Industry’s
knowledge in these areas could provide a greater insight into
the operating parameters of foreign satellite systems, assess the
potency of foreign counter-space systems and help to develop
effective mission assurance, reconstitution, and deterrent strategies.
Moreover, with more permissive International Traffic
in Arms Regulations fast-becoming a reality, it is conceivable
that our space industry could soon be building or launching the
space systems of our future adversaries.
Operations in the ‘global theatre’ of space are usually
planned and executed in our national space operations centers.
If industry is to become an effective force multiplier, we must
incorporate industry into our space Joint Air, Space, and Information
Operations/Joint Plans and Requirements processes
from the strategic through to the tactical levels. While the
thought of industry representatives working within the heart of
our military space organizations may be unnerving to some, we
will need to move beyond any historical biases if we are to capitalize
upon industry’s full potential. Industry may also have
to adopt new ways of working in which individuals are able to
put aside their company’s commercial interests and concentrate
on national imperatives. Seconding industry representatives
into our national space operations centers would be a relatively
easy process; ensuring that these secondees represent the united
industry view may prove more difficult. Therefore, if we are
seeking to mobilise the space industry as a single entity in support
of military objectives, who should we approach Should
it be the governing trade association, a civil space agency, or
perhaps the government department charged with promoting
business growth 6 This raises wider issues in terms of how
we then synchronize our space effects with those of other industrial
sectors; in other words how do we achieve industrial
cross-domain integration
What was made clear during SW 10 was that an unprecedented
speed of response will be required in order to react
dynamically to events in space; this will necessitate pre-agreed
processes with both national and allied industrial sectors in order
to capitalize on their contributions in a timely manner. Such
arrangements are already in place with commercial satellite
imagery providers for support to global disaster relief efforts, 7
perhaps similarly flexible arrangements could be developed to
bolster our response to emerging national and international security
crises.
There has been a shift in culture to one that emphasizes openness,
sharing of information, and ready access. Establishing
the risk balance will be an enduring challenge for defense. 8
As a ‘valued international partner’ [formerly foreign national],
I would be remiss not to mention something about information
sharing. However, in this instance, I will limit my
comments to information sharing with our commercial counterparts.
Clearly, those industry representatives working within
our military space organizations would have to be security
cleared to an appropriate level. The question is how they would
discuss issues with their wider industry colleagues without revealing
classified or commercially sensitive information. While
maintaining a list of authorized defense contractors is common
practice, we will need to widen this net to compass the entire
civil space sector. This could become particularly problematic
where a company has commercial links with countries outside
the traditional group of space allies. As mitigation, companies
While the thought of industry representatives working within the heart of our military space
organizations may be unnerving to some, we will need to move beyond any historical biases
if we are to capitalize upon industry’s full potential.
High Frontier 28