WASHINGTON Space Force designers and science and technology professionals are soon to be joined in a new collaborative simulation and modeling environment.
The new workspace will help to strengthen the partnership between Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Warfighting Analysis Center (SWAC), which is a new force organization that conducts analysis of major mission area architectures for the services.
Col. Eric Felt, currently leading AFRLs Space vehicles Directorate, will be taking on a new position as deputy executive direct of U.S. Space Forces Architecture, Science and Technology. In a recent interview, C4ISRNET stated that the move would allow the two organizations more close collaboration in a digital engineering setting as they analyze and optimise SWACs force design.
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According to Felt, the modeling and simulation space will be operational in April. It will be located in a new addition at Kirtland Airforce Base, NM. It is expected to be online in April, just one year before the opening of the new Kirtland Advanced Research Simulation Laboratory and Wargaming Laboratory. The new WARS laboratory will provide the Space Vehicles Directorate, and the Directed Energy Directorate with a dedicated simulation and analysis facility.
The SWAC completed the first force design last summer. In October, it briefed industry about its analysis. This analysis was focused on missile warning and tracking architectures for the Department of Defense. Although the results have not been released, they are expected to drive near-term and long-term changes in the Department of Defenses plans to space-based missile defense.
The center announced plans to launch its next wave of analysis after it has completed its initial architecture work. It will focus on space data transport capabilities as well as ground moving target indicators.
Felt stated that the lab and analysis center already have a close relationship and were in close contact as the SWAC designed its missile warning and tracking force designs. AFRL can also contribute ideas and solutions to mitigate risks identified in the architecture.
He said that we are able to bring our knowledge into their analysis so they can evaluate these emerging technologies. We are their art-of the-possible people.
Felt added that AFRL benefits from the relationship as it provides clear feedback on lab priorities and how to shape its technology portfolio.
Felt and eight mission area leaders work on identifying the best places for the Space Vehicles Directorate to focus its resources. This is a process that Felt does every year and more often as necessary. The cost-versus-utility plot is used by the team to identify projects that offer the greatest potential to deter adversaries (China in particular) at the lowest costs. Felt then compiles those ideas and publishes it in a commander’s intent report. This report is published each June.
Based on the Space Forces needs and the threats environment, the current priorities of the directorates fall into three broad categories: ubiquitous connectivity and ubiquitous sensing, and novel orbits. Felt stated that technology areas aren’t necessarily new but they remain important and the directorates view them as the most important contributors to resilience from a science-tech perspective.
Felt explained that ubiquitous connectivity includes technology such as space-to-ground links or laser communications that allows satellites to communicate continuously with each other and users on the ground.
He stated that we need to be able communicate with our satellites at all hours and receive data from them in real-time, as well as command them in real-time. It’s a way to build the combat cloud, or as we used the term it, the internet in space.
Ubiquitous sensors, another high-paying technology, is the sensor that gives space operators the domain intelligence they need. Felt stated that this includes new technologies and commercial sensing capabilities that allow small satellites to act like large satellites.
Felt said that we really want to be able detect everything, everywhere, and in real time. This is our vision of what these sensors can do.
The third focus area is about how to operate within non-traditional orbits. This is a new direction for the lab. It looks to make use of emerging technologies to allow Space Force greater access and control in areas of space it hasnt previously been able to. Felt specifically referred to cislunar orbit and very low Earth orbit, as two possible regimes of interest.
Technology-wise, I want to see everything. . . He said that the Space Force could go there if necessary to complete our missions.
Courtney Albon, C4ISRNET’s emerging technology and space reporter, is Courtney Albon. She has previously covered the U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Space Force to Inside Defense.
