US Strategic Command announced Wednesday it is forming a new Multinational Space Collaboration at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The effort will provide “a framework for combined operations in space among the Five Eye allies”—the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada—according to a press release. The goal of the effort is to “explore methods for increased sharing, cooperation, and collaboration to preserve the safety of spaceflight, and enhance mutual security,” according to the release. As a first step in assembling an international cohort, STRATCOM expects “to have a German [liaison officer] in place at Vandenberg” sometime this summer, said Lt. Gen. David Buck at the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday. As the commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space, which will be hosting MSC, Buck will be central to its success. “As space is a global commons, the MSC provides a vehicle to enhance sharing and collaboration with other like-minded nations,” Buck said. He added that a central focus of MSC will be improving space situational awareness.
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…