Partnering to Win in the Space Fight
Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, Commander, Space Systems Command
Lt. Gen. E.J. Kenny, Commander, Royal Canadian Air Force
Air Commadore Angus Porter, Australian Embassy, Air & Space Attaché
AF Air and Space Commander Air Marshal Harvey Smyth
Moderator: Col. Charles Galbreath, USSF (Ret.), Senior Fellow for Space Studies, Mitchell Institute's Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence
Lessons Learned
Guetlein:
-Going into Ukraine, we probably weren’t think about coalitions as much as we should’ve. What we know going forward especially in the space domain is that we cannot do it alone. We’re going to need partnerships.
-US competitive advantage is our partnerships. Going forward it’s going to be critical. To the north, Canada, we have the only bicommand on the planet. Across the Pacific, we have a tremendous partnership. And for the UK, we’ve been fighting together for hundreds of years. We’ll all continue to build.
Kenny:
-We absolutely need partnerships moving forward.
-We’re focusing on the niche technologies we’re all going to need moving forward.
Porter:
-The last 100 years have really demonstrated the value of partners. We’re doing exercises together so that we have practiced together before we arrive.
USAF and USSF and Partnering with the US
Kenny:
-Warfighting in the space domain concept is relatively new. We’re all aligned with USSF in integration with USSC.
-We have an opportunity to take decades of experience and try to build something completely different.
-I just met with Gen Dickinson and Gen Saltzman in Canada and we were discussing how we can partner better.
-Classified information sharing is a challenge that remains.
Guetlein:
-Until the stand up of SF we didn’t talk about space with our allies. We kept all the information to ourselves and as a result we weren’t executing the kind of partnerships that we should’ve.
-Dialog, that has changed. We’re speaking at levels we’ve never been able to before and in public.
-We’re engaging across the entire board. Classification is still a huge challenge but we’re working through it.
Smyth:
-Had we not seen a USSF and USSC I’m not confident that I could’ve landed the argument to stand up a UK Space Command. With this and the threats pace picking up, that has helped the UK pick up its approach.
-We’ve been very grateful for this partnership. We are aligning our thinking and driving forward.
-The US action has really helped.
Guetlein:
-The dialog has changed. We’re collaborating. What can the UK bring and which hole can it fill? We’re looking at others the same way. That’s key because we’re not going to be able to build our way out of this.
Kenny:
-Responsible space behaviors, policies, architectures, we are looking at how we can align values and deter aggression towards us.
Foreign Military Sales and Space Capabilities
Smyth:
-It’d be interesting if we were bold enough to look at a capability set that we’re all interested in. If we all bring money and ideas and collaborate. I think that’d be really interesting.
Guetlein:
-We’re really leveraging the lessons learned from air. We’re good at it with GPS, a little bit of SATCOM.
-SAF/IA space technology and readiness baseline. This baseline allows us to move much faster. We’re doing more satcom, looking at PNT. We’re really exploding in SDA. SDA there’s not enough data to go out there so we are really working with allies and looking at how to do this in the SDA space.
Smyth:
-Owner, collaborate, and access. Which capabilities do we need to solely own for just us? Where should we collaborate? What can we access from the commercial market?
-FMS or collaborative programs, that’s something we’re trying to champion. We’ve done a lot of talking but haven’t made much progress but it’s because we haven’t been able to get the requirements lined up. I’d love a collaborative approach on requirements setting.
Deterrence
Porter:
-We look to the US a lot for capabilities but we do have aspirations of our own that we’re trying to get at.
-I can feel the resolve across the countries as an attaché. There’s a lot of alignment.
-Signaling piece, other countries are looking at how well we operate together and that’s signaling and that’s a major piece.
Smyth:
-Capability, credibility, communicate. As we’ve seen the doors open from the US and we’re having much more dialog. Building a coalition, we want adversaries to see, it’s not us versus America. It’s us versus everyone else.
-We need to continue doing exercises together and showing the world and keeping them on the back foot.
Guetlein:
-Credibility, it sends a strong signal that we are all aligned on the values and safe behaviors in space. We have to keep sending that signal.
-Allied by design, they may be able to take one of us allow but definitely not all of us at once. That’s key.
Kenny:
-Making sure we’re all seeing the same threat and agree. SSA/SDA, we need this. We can’t deter if we can’t see it. Protect and defend mission, you need to be able to do this. This combined with messaging, it’s all deterrence. We’re doing a commendable job but we still have a lot to do.
[End]
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