Colorado Springs, Colo. –
U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson, U.S. Space Command commander, kicked off the 38th Annual Space Symposium as a featured speaker at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, April 18, 2023.
Dickinson highlighted USSPACECOM’s accomplishments and achievements since its re-establishment three years ago and how that growth has aided the command’s progress as it continues to build toward its next milestone, full operational capability.
“Looking at what we've done in the area of space domain awareness and capabilities, it's been tremendous,” Dickinson said, to include, “how we have been able to leverage the commercial industry to increase our space domain awareness.”
He added that the ability to operate in the space domain relies on USSPACECOM’s mission to identify on-orbit objects and characterize potential threats to better understand the space domain.
In addition to commercial organizations, USSPACECOM works alongside a growing number of academic institutions and engages its globally spanning network of allies and partners to contribute to its space domain awareness capabilities.
“Today we have 169 space situational awareness sharing agreements … and growing. We have 33 nations and international organizations, 129 commercial companies, plus seven universities,” Dickinson said.
The same diversity of perspectives that helps USSPACECOM achieve its space domain awareness mission is present throughout the command’s headquarters, functional, and service components.
"When you have the spread of experience we have, in our Joint Force…the joint service members that have combat experiences in other domains – air, land, sea, and cyber – and are able to bring that to bear,” said Dickinson.
Additionally, USSPACECOM embeds members of its headquarters within its fellow combatant commands to augment operational and intelligence planning. These Joint Integrated Space Teams (or “JISTS”) make recommendations to the combatant commander on the employment of military spacepower. Dickinson emphasized that the command’s most important asset – it’s people – are the “secret sauce” to USSPACECOM’s mission success.
“Our people, our civilians, our military, from all the services, our joint team are the greatest weapon system we have … they really represent the best of what we do each and every day and defending the space domain,” Dickinson said. “I can't stress the importance of what they do each and every day.”