Improving Joint Operations in Space

Defense and intelligence senior leaders met this week to find ways to increase collaboration in space, using recent launches of new space situational awareness satellites to improve how the US can face space-based threats. The Joint Space Doctrine and Tactics Forum, established last year at the direction of Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, includes the heads of US Strategic Command, the National Reconnaissance Office, Air Force Space Command, and the leaders of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps space-related commands. The group met at STRATCOM headquarters at Offutt AFB, Neb., to discuss the best way to protect national assets in the event of a conflict in space, according to a STRATCOM release. The meeting followed the Aug. 19 launches of the third and fourth satellites in the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, which will collect space situational awareness in a near-geosynchronous orbit to accurately track and identify space objects. “By gaining comprehensive SSA, we are better able to provide more robust spaceflight safety information, assisting the US and its allies in conducting responsible and safe space operations,” STRATCOM Commander Adm. Cecil Haney said in the release.