Lisa Prue, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command G-31 Training and Exercise Division, gives a Space Kit overview and demonstration to Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Carpenter and Sgt. 1st Class Jacob Lopez, both from the U....
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command showed attendees of the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium and Exposition March 13-15 why the command is the Army's premier force provider and executor of global missile defense and space operations.
During the symposium, USASMDC/ARSTRAT leaders and team members demonstrated through various venues how the command enhances operations, supports the Warfighter, explores new technologies and anticipates the future of integrated air and missile defense and global space operations.
"Today's operating environment is among the most challenging we have faced in some time," said Richard P. DeFatta, acting director, SMDC Future Warfare Center. "This includes changes in the character of war highlighted by increased lethality and potential overmatch, and friendly forces being contested in all domains including space.
"Space-enabled capabilities are critical across all warfighting functions," he continued. "Seventy percent of Army systems leverage space, with the Army as the largest user of space in the Department of Defense. Army space contributions to the joint fight include globally deployed space forces that plan, coordinate, integrate and synchronize space capabilities for the Warfighter."
He also spoke of one of SMDC's core tasks in the defense of the homeland with the 100th Missile Defense Brigade and the command's partnership with the Missile Defense Agency.
"As the Army's proponent for global ballistic missile defense, we work closely with MDA to match the evolving global ballistic missile threat with not only unprecedented technical advancements, but highly proficient Soldiers operating these state-of-the-art weapon systems," DeFatta said. "These ballistic missile defense elements include the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, the AN/TPY-2 Forward Base Mode radar, and the Command and Control, Battle Management and Communications system."
He then discussed SMDC's course and priorities with continued development of the capabilities to address future threats and the emerging operational environment.
"It is incumbent upon all of us to examine ways to counter the ever-growing space and missile threat and the dynamics of the operational environment," DeFatta said. "We also look to identify the next leap ahead, game changing technology or concept to provide dominant space and missile defense capabilities. Together, with our joint and multinational partners, we can set conditions for developing capabilities to create and exploit windows of advantage within and across domains."
During the symposium, numerous SMDC programs were spotlighted in AUSA's Innovator's Corner, which offered visitors an up-close and personal look at the Army's research and development efforts and the opportunity to hear from the engineers who work on the technologies.
One of the programs represented was the Army Cost Efficient Spaceflight Research Experiments and Demonstrations, or ACES RED. The ACES RED experiment's main focus is to determine a solution to the problem of controlling small satellites by testing a small spacecraft simulator mounted to the exterior of the International Space Station for 12-plus months. This experiment will mature various commercially available off-the-shelf technologies that will reduce the cost and complexity while maintaining performance of Army small satellites.
"We are preparing to test small satellite components onboard the International Space Station," said Mason Nixon, SMDC Space Systems Division general engineer. "It is a unique opportunity to be able to test this and have continual data for 12-plus months. This will ultimately facilitate our knowledge for future space programs."
Another program from SMDC was Kestrel Eye. Kestrel Eye is an electro-optical microsatellite-class imagery satellite for tasking by the tactical ground component Warfighter. Capable of producing tactically useful imagery, Kestrel Eye's data can be downlinked directly to the same Warfighter. Kestrel Eye is scheduled to be launched to the International Space Station as a part of a cargo resupply mission in 2017.
"Kestrel Eye is a small imaging satellite designed to support the tactical Warfighter on the ground," said Wheeler "Chip" Hardy, general engineer, SMDC Space and Strategic Systems Directorate. "We are trying to provide a measure of satellite persistence overhead that can provide situational awareness and images rapidly."
Two more programs being spotlighted were the Deep Cyber Threat Modeling and Real Time Intrusion Denial as well as the Video Knowledge Graph for Enriched full-motion video processing, exploitation, and dissemination.
"We want to bring knowledge to the Warfighters and help them get their mission done in a more timely and efficient manner," said Kaye Blankenship, SMDC Technical Center electronics engineer. "We have the video intelligence tool that expedites discovery of objects with full-motion video and correlate it with other intelligence information."
Aside from the Innovator's Corner, members of SMDC's G-31 Training, Readiness, and Exercises, or TREX, Division were updating symposium attendees on the latest status of the Army Space Training Strategy, or ASTS. People learned how the TREX team is working to ensure Soldiers serving in Army brigade combat teams understand space capabilities available to them and are prepared to operate when those space capabilities are contested.
"We are here to help explain the Army's requirements for training Soldiers how to operate in a contested environment," said Joan Rousseau, Army Space Training and Integration Branch chief. "Particularly in light of the fact that adversaries have lots of capabilities to take away our ability to use our position, navigation and target equipment. It is important that we train our Soldiers and our units to prepare for a contested environment, how to recognize when they are in that type of environment, how to mitigate those effects and react, and when it is all said and done, report so our intel community can be better informed.
"We want to get the word out that jamming is a very real threat and that it impacts more than just space-enabled equipment," she added. "It impacts the commander's ability to accomplish the mission."
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