SPACECOM shares battlespace awareness with EUCOM amid Ukraine invasion

CHANTILLY, VA -- Space Command officials are playing “a supporting role” amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, SPACECOM’s chief said today, sharing missile warning, battlespace awareness and other information with U.S. European Command.

The work, Gen. James Dickinson told attendees at the Defense and Intelligence Space Conference here, is meant to ensure that Gen. Tod Wolters, EUCOM chief, “has the assured space effects necessary to respond and characterize the situation.”

Noting SPACECOM’s efforts to fuse capabilities “to get a common operating picture of the threats we face today,” Dickinson, appearing via Zoom from Colorado, said the command is providing “battlespace awareness of the space domain.”

That’s in addition to “missile warning and GPS-enabled Blue Force tracking over EUCOM, provided by our global sensor network and the satellite communication [Wolters] needs to link his forces together,” Dickinson said.

The insights come the day after President Biden ordered a slew of U.S. military assets, including F-35s and a battalion of 20 AH-64 attack helicopters, be redeployed from Germany and Italy to bolster NATO nations in Eastern Europe. The move dovetailed with Biden’s newly announced “first tranche” of economic sanctions against Russia.

Separately today, National Reconnaissance Office Director Christopher Scolese warned conference-goers here to ensure their systems are secure and monitored given Russia’s cyber capabilities.

Scolese said Russia is likely already engaging in GPS jamming and other activities.

“I think it’s fair to assume that to the extent that they can and to the extent that they feel it won’t extend conflict out of their control, that they will extend it to space,” he said. “It’s hard to say how far their reach is going to go in order to achieve their objectives, but it’s better to be prepared than surprised.”