Space Force creates new intel ‘production’ unit

Defence affairs - Def-Geopolitics

The Space Force has created a new Space Intelligence Production Center (SIPC) designed to streamline the flow of threat information both to warfighters for day-to-day operations and policymakers for longer-term strategic decisions, according to service officials.

The service cut the ribbon on the new center at the Springfield-Beckley Air National Guard Base, Springfield, Ohio, on Friday. The SIPC combines the 76th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron (ISRS) from Space Force Delta 7, and the 4th Intelligence Analysis Squadron (IAS) from the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC).

The move “will allow for more streamlining in integrating foundational and technical intelligence into current Military Space operations,” a Space Force spokesperson said in an email to reporters.

Lt. Col. Stefan Katz, the 76th ISRS commander, told reporters the day of the ceremony that the merger of the two units will benefit both sides, as well as future space operations.

“There’s a great symbiosis here,” he said. “The crews from the 76th are focused on today’s tasking, today’s situation, today’s mission and objectives, and the 4th [on] thinking longer term, and what are the implications.”

Katz explained that his squadron is “very junior,” made of personnel on their first assignment with the Space Force.

By contrast, the commander of the 4th IAS, Lt. Col. Aaron Echols, said that the 4th is made up of seasoned intelligence professionals working on data exploitation, including analysts specializing in integrated input from all types of sources, but also “single source experts.”

Echols said the new unit will look across intelligence “disciplines” — for example, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) and signals intelligence (SIGINT) — “that is giving information from all over the place, any time, any day.

“Our uniformed Guardians and our civilian Guardians are looking at this from that space lens, that same information can be utilized by multitude of other services and combat commands, but really the purpose for our field is that space domain piece to it,” he said.

Katz added that the new center also “can help drive future force design based off of the knowledge that is we are using from literally dozens of different types of unique sensors across GEOINT, SIGINT, MASINT [measurement and signature intelligence], even OSINT [open source intelligence].

“No one will be better suited to explain to the acquisition community, ‘Hey, sensors XYZ: awesome. ABC: could be good, but they’re always broken. And then these three: would be better if the following’ — so we can drive that longer-term automation to make the different systems, current and yet to come, be more effective for both current operations and then the bigger picture analysis.”

While the SIPC now includes some 140 personnel, Echols said that over time “there will be more” as there already are plans for growth.

“The endgame is 150 or more person ops floor that probably is going to involve about a half dozen different organizations,” he said.