Courtesy Photo | Col. Don Brooks, Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence commandant, discusses...... read more read more
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The tactical and institutional future of Army space took center stage during the second day of the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 15.
In a panel titled, “Army Space Vision: Delivering Effects for Combat Ready Formations,” Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command commanding general; Col. Don Brooks, SMD Center of Excellence commandant; Command Sgt. Maj. Maurice Tucker, 1st Space Brigade command sergeant major; and Col. Pete Atkinson, Army Space Division chief, G-3.5.7, discussed how cohesive Army space policy, SMDC training and 1st Space Brigade operations are continuing to transform to deliver effects for maneuver forces’ warfighting efforts as outlined by the Army Space Vision Supporting Multidomain Operations.
That guiding document, published in January by the secretary of the Army, chief of staff of the Army and sergeant major of the Army, outlines a renewed focus for Army space activities and directs the Army to concentrate on two fundamental mission sets: integrating friendly joint, coalition and commercial space capabilities and interdicting adversary space capabilities to protect ground combat forces.
To integrate across the joint force, Atkinson told the AUSA audience, the Army is developing light, agile and expeditionary equipment as well as infrastructure in space to enable the communication and maneuver of Army ground combat forces specifically.
That initiative includes fielding mounted and dismounted assured position, navigation and timing receivers and moving out with the TITAN intelligence node, a mobile intelligence ground station using space-based information, he said.
“The tactical edge is where rubber meets the road for warfighters, whether it’s at hand grenade range, small arms fire range or indirect fire range," Atkinson said. “Those are the individuals closest to where our adversary is. How do we get them that crucial information that terrestrial communications can’t provide to them? They need to have space-based communications.”
With the U.S. Space Force’s establishment in 2019, the Army space vision is critical in defining what the Army’s role in space is – providing space capabilities and forces at the tactical edge that complement, not supplant, Space Force assets in multidomain operations.
“We’re not trying to replace what Space Force does, we replicate and reinforce,” Tucker said. “Our primary focus is to go forward into the theater to provide a lot of (those capabilities). A lot of what we do is through those partnerships in information sharing, especially on the intelligence side, and system understanding.”
Another initiative USASMDC is taking to increase Army preparedness and deterrence is the creation of an enlisted space military occupational specialty, Brooks said.
Currently, USASMDC has functional area (FA) officers but “borrows” enlisted personnel from other branches like air defense artillery, the signal corps and intelligence corps. Establishing a space MOS will allow the command to build and retain expertise among its space noncommissioned officer cohort and meet changing Army force structure requirements.
“Training and maintaining space professionals steeped in ground maneuver operations and experience provides the joint force with the best path for identifying and refining requirements for space capabilities,” Brooks said. “It is the most effective and efficient way to integrate space across all warfighting functions at the depth, breadth and scale required across the Army.”
A livestream of this panel is available at https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=861994216018490.
| Date Taken: | 10.15.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.15.2024 17:21 |
| Story ID: | 483168 |
| Location: | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 279 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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