ORLANDO, Fla. (AFNS) — Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, kicked off the second day of the Space Force Association’s annual Spacepower Conference by delivering keynote remarks to the audience of Guardians, government leaders, academia and space industry experts, Dec. 11.
As the service’s senior-most leader of a joint organization, Whiting highlighted the significant contributions of all services in the space domain, and the importance of operating from a common playbook to fuse those diverse capabilities and yield a warfighting advantage.
“That broader playbook in joint doctrine is defined as something called the joint functions. The joint functions describe those skills and capabilities that we need to bring to the broader Joint Force, and they are the result of centuries of lessons learned and experience in the terrestrial warfighting domains,” he said.
Joint Publication 3-0, the military’s doctrinal guidance for joint operations, lists seven functions that must be integrated into plans for all operational environments, to include the space domain:
– Intelligence
– Information
– Command and Control
– Fires
– Protection
– Movement and Maneuver
– Sustainment
To define each joint function, Whiting described the continuous and connected web of the functions in the backdrop of an all-domain battlefield. Behind him, in a scene that resembled an open-world first-person video game, graphics that depicted on-orbit intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites, precision-guided munitions, and an operations floor exercising tactical command and control reinforced his argument that the very same warfighting principles apply in space operations.
An area Whiting said the command has made significant progress is in intelligence, acknowledging “everything we do in space must be intelligence led, given the threats that are now so prominent that we have to face.”
From the incredible growth of the command’s Intelligence Directorate to the integration across various centers, mission deltas, the broader intelligence community, and across the joint force, he said, “I really believe we’re starting to get after Intel for space and from space for all levels of command across the entire spectrum of conflict.”
That intelligence, added with the joint Function of information, for example, furnishes the space domain awareness necessary to characterize, track, and attribute on-orbit behavior. Among the many sources of data that feeds this intelligence picture is USSPACECOM’s Joint Commercial Operations cell that leverages data purchased from 15 companies’ commercial sensors to then tip and queue this information into the broader Space Surveillance Network. Additionally, USSPACECOM looks for opportunities to leverage existing platforms throughout the joint force to augment Space Domain Awareness capabilities such as the Navy’s Aegis destroyer.
The ability to characterize, added with the importance of information sharing to the broader integrated space enterprise, is vital for success. Whiting described progress through the examples of the Department of Defense classification policy, as well as the recent expansion of Multinational Force Operation Olympic Defender to six nations, officially welcoming France, and Germany, alongside existing partners of Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States. New Zealand accepted their membership invitation in September earlier this year.
“We live in an information age, and information may be the difference between victory and defeat, because it’s a strategic resource now, and so we’ve got to be able to leverage our information and protect it,” Whiting said.
And like the other warfighting domains, Whiting said, movement and maneuver allows us to gain a position of advantage relative to the adversary, and then space needs the effects created by all-domain fires to influence and affect targets.
“If we’re going to achieve space superiority, which is, of course, foundational to joint force success, we must have improved capability to protect and defend our space systems and influence targets in space,” Whiting said. As such, the command has prioritized fires on top its Fiscal Year 27 Integrated Priority List.
While conflict is space is not inevitable, he emphasized the need to plan for sustained operations and presence in the domain. This invokes the requirements of both the function of protection to ensure systems are designed to withstand the threats of the domain, and the function of Sustainment, to maintain not only on-orbit platforms, but terrestrial architecture as well.
And finally, though the command and control of USSPACECOM’s area of responsibility looks a bit different in the absence of lines on a map, space operations require the same synchronization and deconfliction across combatant commands for offensive and defensive freedom of action. Command and control also underpins USSPACECOM’s unified command plan responsibility of transregional missile defense and its simultaneous roles as both a supporting and supported combatant command.
In fact, this synchronizing joint function is so foundational for success, Whiting designated 2025 USSPACECOM’s ‘Year of Command and Control,” and as such, will prioritize:
– Revitalizing the strategic space command and control concept of operations
– Working with the Department of the Air Force, the Space Force, and all the acquisition organizations to ensure the right sensors and effectors are being acquired for the relevant kill chains
– Re-evaluating the space AOR and if there is a need for break-out by unique orbital terrain or unique joint operating areas
– Prioritizing improved capability to protect and defend our space systems
Command and control in space does not happen without identifying your critical assets, and “for the first time ever this year, our Critical Asset List now includes commercial and allied capabilities,” Whiting said.
U.S. Space Command, alongside a growing network of partners, has made incredible progress to bring together the skills and attributes needed to be successful on this broader team, however Whiting reminded the audience of the complex challenges ahead.
“The threats are becoming more lethal and becoming democratized, meaning that they’re proliferating, and we’re facing more of them, and we’ve got to continue to prepare for that reality,” he said. “As we fight for space superiority, we’ll take elements of the entire joint force … supporting us even while we’re supporting them. This is the common playbook that we all need to focus on to continue to drive success.”
View the full transcript of Whiting’s Spacepower 2024 remarks here.
source: www.spaceforce.mil