New Space Force effort focused on ‘closing C2 kill chains’

WASHINGTON — The Space Force’s primary acquisition command has established a new effort to build integrated command and control (C2) networks — that is, machine-to-machine capabilities to seamlessly feed data from multiple sensors through battle management systems that process data to “shooters” — focused on four high priority, classified weapon systems, according to senior officials.

Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of Space Systems Command, said today that his primary focus over the next five years “is on the C2 and closure of the kill chains to actually use the effectors,” based on priorities set by the head of US Space Command Gen. Stephen Whiting.

The new initiative, he told the Space Industry Days conference in Los Angeles, is aimed to overcome current stovepipes and ensure that in a crisis or conflict, “we can actually employ these effectors and have a kill chain that that closes and actually employ the kit that we’re building.”

In an exclusive interview with Breaking Defense in September, Garrant elaborated: “We’ve got things in this space. We’ve got things on the ground. We have a spectrum of reversible and irreversible [weapon systems]. But we need to be able to command and control those.” The focus, he added, is on “four specific weapon systems” that are classified, “four specific capabilities that we want to ensure that our operators can use.”

The “Joint Enterprise Integrated Federated C2 For Space” effort is being managed by SSC’s recently revamped and elevated Space System Integration Office, headed by Claire Leon. Garrant noted that Leon’s office is working closely with Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey, the integrating program executive officer for Air Force Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management, to ensure that the space C2 networks can connect with the larger Department of the Air Force Battle Network.

The DAF Battle Network, created last year, is the latest overhaul of the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). It is a framework for connecting sensors and shooters from the air all the way up to space — and represents the department’s contribution to the Pentagon’s Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative.

Leon told the Space Industry Days conference today that the “C2 integration activity” is “a huge pivot” for SSC being led by her deputy Kris Acosta — and involves not just her shop, but also other Space Force and SPACECOM units, plus outside organizations including the Missile Defense Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office.

She explained that the effort to “put a laser focus on four different effects” was kickstarted by Whiting, who “went to” Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman, Air Force Space Acquisition Czar Frank Calvelli, and Cropsey “and said: ‘I need you to shift your focus and really look at four specific weapon systems and having them end-to-end, built, tested, ready to operate by 2026.’

“And so it’s really all about being ready for contested space by 2026 and having the people, the processes, the tools, the doctrine, everything in place so that we can operate effectively,” she said.

For decades, the Air Force, and now the Space Force, has struggled to modernize and mesh together the myriad space C2 systems that range from individual satellite constellation ground systems to the computers and software that gather data from radars and telescopes keeping tabs on the heavens. According to a June 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office, the Defense Department between 2000 and 2022 spent $1.7 billion on various space C2 efforts — and that sum doesn’t count up what was spent on on previous programs that date back to the 1990s.

For example, SSC’s previous incarnation in 2018 created Space Command and Control (Space C2) program to modernize, via incremental upgrades, outdated hardware and software used to track and control satellites. It was supposed to replace the ill-fated Joint Space Operations Center Mission System (JMS) that ran from 2009 to 2018, which in turn was aimed at replacing the 1980’s-era Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC) computer system. Space C2 also was to add in threat assessment capabilities that can tell a commander the function of an adversary spacecraft and whether it is targeting a US satellite.

Following a damning report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2019, Space C2 was restructured in fiscal 2022 — but GAO again in 2023 cited problems with the program, including unclear requirements and delays in planned upgrades. And a subsequent report by the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test & Evaluation showed that Space C2’s primary software updated needed to replace SPADOC had fallen at least two years behind schedule to late this year.

In his interview with Breaking Defense, Garrant said that SSC is now aiming to finally switch off SPADOC late next year.