{"id":165117,"date":"2025-09-18T09:13:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T09:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/165117\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T09:13:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T09:13:05","slug":"space-force-cell-explores-reorg-to-push-commercial-data-to-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/165117\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Force cell explores reorg to push commercial data to military"},"content":{"rendered":"

AMOS 2025 \u2014 The Space Force\u2019s Joint Commercial Operations (JCO) cell<\/a> is in the midst of a reorganization designed to enable routine integration of space domain awareness (SDA)<\/a> data and analysis from commercial operators into day-to-day military operations \u2014 not just at US Space Command, but across all the Combatant Commands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the middle of a a discussion about where the long-term stabilization of something that fully integrates acquisitions, tactical acquisitions, and integrates into existing operations across 11 combatant commands goes,\u201d JCO Director Barbara Golf told Breaking Defense Tuesday at the annual Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS)<\/a> conference in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking at a new organizational construct, underneath SpOC [Space Operations Command], which is now going to be Combat Forces Command, for the integration into existing operations,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The move will in essence transform the JCO, located at Schriever SFB, Colo., from what has been for many years a test bed for figuring out to share unclassified SDA data to and from commercial providers into an \u201cenduring construct\u201d with bureaucratic staying power, she explained.<\/p>\n

While not yet fully conceptualized, the plan is to set up methodologies for JCO to serve as a conduit for transmitting commercial, and eventually allied, SDA information to operators at the far-flung US Combatant Commands. The new JCO would function as \u201ca data provider and analytical services provider,\u201d Golf said.<\/p>\n

The reorganization will have two parts: one aimed at enabling warfighters to use commercial SDA and the other aimed at acquiring commercial data and products that meet their needs.<\/p>\n

Commercial SDA services would be provisioned by the JCO to the Combatant Commands via the Space Force\u2019s operational deltas (the equivalent of Air Force wings) and the service\u2019s components that function as liaison units to the Combatant Commands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink of it like mission support, like an IT office, right? It\u2019s not a separate operation. It\u2019s a support function to other operations,\u201d Golf said. <\/p>\n

Commercial SDA data acquired by the JCO is put into the Unified Data Library<\/a> \u2014 which up to now has essentially been a static data library that did not directly interface with any space monitoring and tracking operations. The Space Force in March<\/a> kicked off a fast-track plan to update the UDL to enable machine-to-machine interfaces with operational systems.<\/p>\n

Golf said that at the moment, the ease of sharing data from the UDL to various Space Force deltas is on a case-by-case basis, depending on how modern their software systems are.<\/p>\n

For example, she said that integrating UDL-housed data about interference with GPS into the \u201ccommon operating picture\u201d for Mission Delta 31, which is responsible for positioning, navigation and timing, took \u201cless than a year\u201d because that delta \u201clives on modern infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe changed the data format to match what they were using. We ran a code upgrade at unclassified. We are porting the containerized code up to secret and top secret,\u201d Golf said. <\/p>\n

On the other hand, integrating commercial data into that gathered by US military sensors for use of Mission Delta 2 \u2014 which actually is responsible for the SDA <\/a>mission of keeping tabs on enemy satellites \u2014 has been more difficult, she said. This is in large part because that delta also is responsible for legacy sensors that provide missile warning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit more difficult to make things legacy, backward compatible into a system that is so tightly controlled for missile warning upgrades \u2014 correctly, since you don\u2019t want to be screwing up with missile warning and those sorts of defense systems easily. So, that one has been taking a lot longer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Golf stressed that the JCO reorganization isn\u2019t about operational activities alone, however. SpOC is responsible only for organizing and training for the Space Force, not equipping Guardians with kit, she explained. The new JCO also will need to figure out how to link back to the service\u2019s main acquisition command, Space Systems Command (SSC)<\/a>, where Golf currently hangs her hat, in order to acquire the commercial data and analytical products needed buy the warfighters. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe special sauce of getting commercial to work is the acquisition tradecraft, the fast acquisition tradecraft, that we have created under the JCO \u2026 and that needs to get plugged in as well so that there is an SSC portion \u2026 of acquisitions to this new organization,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t done yet, so I can\u2019t actually draw you the final chart, but it will be tied to those two field commands, \u2026 where you have the acquisition element and the mission support element across all the operations,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Golf explained that on the acquisition side, the JCO model is based on \u201cshort duration, competitive, constant on-boarding,\u201d where contracts with commercial firms \u2014 such as Leolabs, Exoanalytic, Slingshot and COMSPOC \u2014 are made only for a four- to six-week period. <\/p>\n

This rapid turnover, she said, is necessary to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation, but also evolving military requirements. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo one ever gets to rest on their laurels. I think that one of the key pieces is that, and I know industry can\u2019t stand it. Quite frankly, I don\u2019t care,\u201d Golf said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to remain hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AMOS 2025 \u2014 The Space Force\u2019s Joint Commercial Operations (JCO) cell is in the midst of a reorganization…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[99782,4862,99783,79,193,59548,11716,85259,38741,14931,59549],"class_list":["post-165117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-amos-2025","tag-commercial-space","tag-joint-commercial-operations-cell","tag-science","tag-space","tag-space-domain-awareness-sda","tag-space-force","tag-space-operations-command","tag-space-situational-awareness","tag-space-systems-command","tag-space-tracking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}