[SatNews] The Department of Defense announces the agency will establish a Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center (JICSpOC), in conjunction with U.S. Strategic Command, Air Force Space Command, and the intelligence community.  The center, to be located at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will create unity of effort and facilitate information sharing across the national security space enterprise.

 

The new JICSpOC will improve processes and procedures, ensuring data fusion among DoD, intelligence community, interagency, allied and commercial space entities.  The JICSpOC will have embedded capabilities that enable it to provide backup to the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC), located at Vanderberg Air Force Base, California, but is not intended as a replacement for the JSpOC. The JICSpOC will be located within existing facilities on Schriever AFB.  Military construction funding is not required.

 

The center will have the capability to develop, test, validate and integrate new space system tactics, techniques and procedures in support of both DoD and Intelligence Community space operations.

 

The increasing threats to space capabilities necessitates better operational integration of these two space communities, as well as civil, commercial, allied and international partners.  The JICSpOC experimentation and test effort will boost the ability to detect, characterize, and attribute irresponsible or threatening space activity in a timely manner.

 

Ultimately, the output of the JICSpOC will enhance U.S. space operations, contribute to operational command and control within the DoD, and improve the nation's ability to protect and defend critical national space infrastructure in an increasingly contested space environment.

 

Along with JSpOC, the new JICSpOC will support the Joint Functional Component Commander for Space, the Space Component Commander for USSTRATCOM. An initial cadre of approximately 30 personnel will develop the facility, network and analytic requirements, as well as the skill sets and organizational representation required to provide the proper experimentation and testing environment for the JICSpOC.  Membership of this initial group will come from the DoD and the Intelligence Community.  Additional personnel from these and other stakeholders will be added as the detailed experimentation plan is refined.

 

Initial funding for stand-up of the JICSpOC consists of $16M in FY15 funds sourced from DoD and DNI stakeholders.  Budget requirements for future years are still being determined. Preparatory activities have already commenced.  Operational experimentation and testing will begin on 1 October 2015.  Completion of the initial series of experiments, including incorporation of the results into standard operating procedures, is expected by January 1, 2017.