Space Force ISR lead sees need for persistent 'predator' capability

The Space Force's director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sees a need for what she called a "predator" capability that would serve as a high-fidelity sensor and give officials "that persistent look" needed to track, attribute and help predict attacks in space.

Pinpointing the realization of the need for such a capability back to her time as the head of intelligence at U.S. Space Command, Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback said today the idea could manifest itself in the form of perhaps one so-called “predator” to something like 15 small orbital satellites.

“I thought that what we needed was a persistent, like a predator in space, that’s the simplest way for me to say" it, she told Defense One’s online Intelligence Summit. “I need something that’s probably orbiting or is sitting really close to whatever capability that counterspace capability might be, so that I can watch it consistently.”

“There’s so many things that are in space, there’s no way I would say, ‘Let’s do that for everything,’ but let’s prioritize and figure out what are the most important things that we do need to be tracking and how do we track those,” she continued.

Lauderback forecasted that the kind of capability she is describing is “probably years” -- not decades -- away, noting the Space Force has other priorities that rank above it.

Still, the general said the area is one that she sees the private sector “can really help us with.”

“If we can collaborate with the commercial sector on this, then we need to do some of our own analysis and research to figure out what is the best way about going out to do this, then I think we’ll be there [in] single-digit years type of thing,” she said.

Beyond that capability, and others needed within space domain awareness, Lauderback said she hopes to soon reach the point where officials can make decisions surrounding force design for that realm. But for now, she credited the “great progress” the service has made in pivoting away from the space situational awareness idea toward SDA.

More broadly, Lauderback lauded the Space Force for understanding the “need for intelligence,” pointing to the stand-up of the National Space Intelligence Center, the creation of new squadrons at the tactical level to collect and analyze intelligence before providing it to a commander or operator, and more.

“That’s what we’re doing in the first few years -- is really building that capability,” she said.