WASHINGTON Space Force architects and scientists and technology professionals will soon be able to work together in a new collaborative modeling environment.
The new workspace will strengthen the partnership between Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Space Warfighting Analysis Center, (SWAC). A new force design organization is conducting analysis Architectures of the major mission areas for services.
Col. Eric Felt is currently the Space Vehicles Directorate at AFRLs Space Vehicles Division, but will continue to lead them. Find a new positionC4ISRNET’s Science and Technology directorate was interviewed by the deputy executive director of U.S. Space Forces Architecture in July. This will allow them to work more closely in a joint project. Digital engineering environmentThey analyze and optimize SWACs force designs.
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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 AFB, NM’s Space Vehicles Directorate facility. It is online approximately one year before a new facility was built. Wargaming and Advanced Research Simulation LaboratoryKirtland will be the first to receive it. The new WARS lab will be home to the Space Vehicles Directorate as well as the Directed Energy Directorate. It will also provide a dedicated simulation and analysis facility.
The SWAC completed its first force design last summerIn October, the Department of Defense briefed industry about its analysis. It was focused on the Department of Defenses missile detection and tracking architecture. Although the results are not yet available, they are expected to lead to changes in the near- and long-term plans of the Department of Defense for space-based rocket defense.
After completing its initial architecture work, it announced plans to start its next wave analysis. This will be focused on space data transport capabilities and ground moving target indicators.
Felt said that the analysis center and the lab have a strong relationship. They were also in close communication during the development of the SWAC’s missile warning and tracking force design. AFRL can also offer ideas and solutions for mitigating the risks identified in architecture.
He stated that we can help them integrate our knowledge into their analysis to help them evaluate emerging technologies. We are their art of the possible.
Felt stated that AFRL also benefits from the relationship, as it provides clear feedback about how the lab should prioritize 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 needed. 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 commanders intention report, which is published each June.
Based on the Space Forces’ current needs and the threats environment, the directorates current priorities fall into three broad categories: ubiquitous connectivity (ubiquitous sensing), novel orbits (novel orbits), and ubiquitous connectivity (ubiquitous sensing). 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 is technology such as space to ground links and laser communications, which allow satellites and users on earth to communicate continuously.
He said that we must be able to communicate with our satellites in real time and receive data from them in the real time. We also need to be capable of commanding them in the real time. It’s a way to build the combat cloud, or as we used the term it, the internet in space.
Ubiquitous Sensing is another high-paying technology area. It involves sensors that provide space operators with the domain knowledge 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 area of focus, which is how to operate in non-traditional orbits is a new thrust for lab. It looks to use emerging technologies that will allow the Space Force to have greater access to areas in space it hasn’t previously operated. Felt specifically pointed at cislunar spaceBoth very low Earth orbit and very high Earth orbit are two possible regimes of interest.
Technology-wise, I want to see everything. . . He stated that this would allow the Space Force to go there if and whenever we need to complete our missions.
Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She was previously a reporter for C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology section.
