The United States Space Force had issued a new set of guidelines following from the Chief of Space Operations’ November 2020 objective of establishing a technologically advanced and ambitious military service.
The newly released document titled “Vision for a Digital Service” establishes three key concepts for Space Force to achieve its objective, supported by four focuses. Space Force must dominate and innovate in each of these areas to ensure that its stated objective is achieved.
To achieve the commander’s intent, Space Force has identified three core tenets for the service:
- Interconnected: that Space Force must effectively and efficiently relay information across the breadth of the mission.
- Innovative: that Space Force is prepared to regularly rise to the task of beating their adversaries with the adaptation of new equipment and technology.
- Digitally dominant: the creation of a smart, adaptive, and technologically astute workforce.
The four key focus areas to achieve these tenets and ensure that Space Force is a technologically advanced warfighting service are: digital engineering, digital workforce, digital headquarters and digital operations.
- Digital engineering: the creation of a Digital Engineering Ecosystem that facilitates the innovation of new technological concepts.
- Digital workforce: that Space Force will attract innovative and creative thinkers to foster a community of progress.
- Digital headquarters: remove unnecessary barriers in the service, whether bureaucratic or geographic, and prioritising “data-driven decision making”.
- Digital operations: that Space Force will use all available technological systems to achieve their operational objectives.
Last year, the Chief of Space Operations General John Raymond released a “planning guidance” document to inform the future actions of Space Force.
“We are forging a warfighting Service that is always above. Our purpose is to promote security, assure allies and partners, and deter aggressors by demonstrating the capability to deny their objectives and impose costs upon them. We will ensure American leadership in an ongoing revolution of operations in space, and we will be leaders within government to achieve greater speed in decision-making and action. We will partner with and lead others to further responsible actions in, and use of, space to promote security and enhance prosperity. Should an aggressor threaten our interests, America’s space professionals stand ready to fight and win,” he began the document.
“Data and information, along with the skills and tools to put them to use, and drive to innovate will guide and accelerate our decision-making and permeate all the key activities of the Space Force. Harnessing the best that technology has to offer and applying it in ways that can outpace the advances of our adversaries require us to change our capability development processes.”
The “Vision for a Digital Service” is expected to be supported by an upcoming “Transformational Roadmap”.
[Related: Inaugural Space Commander announced]
Liam Garman
Liam began his career as a speechwriter at New South Wales Parliament before working for world-leading campaigns and research agencies in Sydney and Auckland. Throughout his career, Liam has managed and executed a range of international media and communications campaigns spanning politics, business, industrial relations and infrastructure. He’s since shifted his attention to researching and writing extensively on geopolitics and defence, specifically in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and is undertaking a Masters in Strategy and Security from UNSW Canberra.
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