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NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—A pilot program that leverages commercial satellite imagery and related analytics to create more situational awareness for combatant commanders on “tactically relevant timelines” has proven its worth, the chief of the U.S. Space Force said on Tuesday.
The $40 million Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking (TacSRT) pilot program supported U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), providing more than 50 operational products, including timely analysis of activities, Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said during a keynote address at the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference.
The Space Force European Command and AFRICOM used TacSRT to maintain awareness of the entire withdrawal of U.S. forces from two air bases in Niger in July and August, with the timeliness of the intelligence improving throughout the operation.
“Throughout the withdrawal, the team maintained overwatch of everything within five kilometers of the base,” Saltzman said. “On average, the timeline from collection on orbit to delivery into the hands of security forces was about three-and-a-half hours, but the team got it down to as little as one-and-a-half hours from collection to the security forces by the end of the event. This is just proof positive that space makes a difference and makes the joint force better.”
Previously, this situational awareness would have been given by an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft system or similar asset in real-time, Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and commander of U.S. Air Forces Africa, told reporters at the conference. But assets like the MQ-9 and high-altitude balloons require access to the area, and until then, the TacSRT is helpful, he said.
Ninety-minutes is “not as good as real time, right, with MQ-9 that you would have, but it’s better than nothing, right?” Hecker said.
The TacSRT pilot has also provided “timely analysis” of violent extremist activity on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and supported the U.S. Defense Attache in Kenya for disaster relief during floods in May, Saltzman said.
Later, during a media roundtable, Saltzman said that the TacSRT initiative differs from traditional collection of commercial imagery to include the “value-added” analytics and data fusion for a more complete product.
“So, we’re asking the questions to these commercial providers, and they’re responding to us with operational planning products, basically answers to the questions,” he told reporters.
The Space Force has an investment profile to continue TacSRT moving forward, Saltzman said.
“So, as we go to maybe more full expansion, it’s about how much money do we want to put into what we’re calling the commercial marketplace, which allows our Commercial Services Office to purchase these products from the commercial providers,” he said.
Later, during a separate media roundtable, Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, commander U.S. Space Forces-Space, said TacSRT has also been used to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in the Indo-Pacific Command theater. Schiess’ command is the Space Force component to U.S. Space Command.
Space Command’s Joint Commercial Operations (JCO) cell in fiscal year 2024 purchased about $22 million in commercial data and services from 29 companies, Schiess’ office told Defense Daily Tuesday evening. It said the data is mainly for space domain awareness, electromagnetic interference detection, and geolocation.
The TacSRT pilot took place in 2024.
