The Space Triad Organizing for an Effective Milspace Deterrent Strategy

The United States military now has an ever-increasing dependence on its military space-based capabilities. That dependence requires protection of those capabilities, as well as the ability to reconstitute them if protection efforts fail. This paper studies the need to deter an adversary from attempting to attack military space capabilities through the coordinated use of Space Situational Awareness (SSA), Offensive Counterspace (OCS), and Joint Warfighting Space (JWS). This paper also advocates the need for JFCC SGS to obtain command and control for all three legs of the space triad. In order to familiarize readers with deterrent strategy this paper provides a brief discussion of nuclear deterrence, the origins of the Nuclear Triad, and the organization that made it successful in winning the Cold War. SSA capabilities are well documented and the customers benefiting from this mission are Joint in nature. This paper looks at the forces conducting SSA missions and determines where those organizations can change their composition to increase efficiency and effectiveness as one leg of a space deterrent triad. OCS forces are studied in the same manner, investigating joint command and control, tasking, and execution functions to make the second leg of the triad more viable. The third leg of this new triad is studied in a different light. The JWS capabilities are still in developmental and experimental phases, driving this paper to study how to best fit this new category of space force enhancement into the triad.

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