Discussions between the Space Force and the private industry on future space architecture will be kept under wraps
2 min readThe Warfighting Analysis Center of Space Force will hold its inaugural briefing with the space and defense contractors on October 27 at a classified location in the Washington, D.C. region. As a result, new space enterprises lacking top-secret clearances will be unable to participate. Andrew Cox, who serves as the director in charge of the SWAC (Space Warfighting Analysis Center), stated on September 21 at Air Space & Cyber conference of Air Force Association, “I’ll just apologize for the fact that it’s SCI.” Sensitive compartmented information, or SCI, is a classification category.
“If I can’t talk about the danger,” Cox said, there’s no chance to have a productive conversation with the industry. The SWAC’s October 27 “business forum” will concentrate on the missile warning satellites and ways to make subsequent satellites more attack-resistant. According to Cox, this necessitates delving into the specifics of the threats, which would be “practically useless to anyone” if held at an unclassified level.
He added it’s unclear whether or when the SWAC is going to undertake unclassified discussions with the industry. He stated, “We certainly want to broaden the aperture and incorporate a lot of new space folks who don’t have clearances.” “All I have to do now is figure out how to get that interaction useful.”
The SWAC is a new body spearheaded by Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, who serves as the chief of the space operations, to assist define “how we’ll construct and combat the future army,” according to Cox. He explained, “We want to accomplish that with better accuracy than we’ve done in the past, and by that, I mean fidelity of the danger.” This entails doing in-depth analysis and the digital modeling of what-if situations that consider potential risks, the physical and engineering limits of satellite construction, and the cost.
Proposed requirements and financing will be informed by the SWAC analysis. Following the completion of the missile warning briefing, the SWAC will consider organizing future briefings on PNT (positioning, navigation, and timing) as well as satellite-based communications.
According to industry sources, the SWAC method is essential because it will be the first occasion the Space Force shares digital models utilized to simulate threats such as anti-satellite missiles with contractors. According to these sources, during the Space Symposium that was held in Colorado Springs previous month, Cox met with CEOs from numerous companies to get ideas on how Space Force might better interact and share the information with the private industry.
Cox said at the AFA meeting that the Space Force would require the sector to exchange its data with government. “We hope to change the way we communicate [about the models] and the way we communicate with the sector by doing so. It’s not the coolness of a colored glossy trifold. “However, show me your model,” he insisted. “We want to transform the way we communicate with one another.”
