New US Space Force directorate drafting ISR, intel requirements

The US Space Force’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) chief is pressing ahead with two service-level initiatives that will lay the requirements and capabilities framework for the newest US military branch for the coming years.

The US Space Force (USSF) ISR personnel have created an internal working group to facilitate the stand-up of the National Space Intelligence Centre (NSIC), and also to help determine what the make-up of the service’s contribution will be to the new centre, and what the path ahead could look like, said Space Force ISR Director US Air Force Major General Leah Lauderback.

“Anyone that has a capability on orbit is looking for … how do we characterise the adversary better,” Maj Gen Lauderback said, regarding the potential advantages posed by the centre’s ability to organise and support the various US military and intelligence organisations with space-based capabilities. The work, co-ordinated by the NSIC, “can determine what do we have, what do we need, and how can we get it” in terms of space-based capabilities, from a government approach, she added.

A US Space Force insignia mounted aboard an Advanced Extremely High-Frequency (AEHF-6) satellite testbed. (United Launch Alliance )

With an anticipated initial operating capability (IOC) date of January 2022 for the NSIC, the centre will be the “focal point for space domain intelligence … in concert with the Space Force ISR Enterprise”, according to Space Force planning guidance issued by the Pentagon in 2020. ”The NSIC will provide a framework for growth to meet anticipated demand for increased space intelligence at foundational, tactical, operational, and strategic levels,” it added.