STARCOM: Today’s wins fuel future force

Published April 10, 2024
Space Training and Readiness Command Public Affairs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The U.S. Space Force’s readiness for the future fight relies on near-term wins notched by Guardians—matched with readiness and realistic training, said the commander of Space Training and Readiness Command today.

U.S. Space Force Maj. Gen. Tim Sejba, STARCOM commander, spoke to an audience of industry, academia, and military officials at the 39th Space Symposium Satellite Forum Breakfast.

Sejba stressed the maturation of the Space Force’s Operational Test and Training Infrastructure (OTTI), an enhanced framework allowing Guardians to execute training against simulated adversaries, must be paired with ‘quick wins’ in order to counter today’s threats.

“We’ve got to keep building that long-term vision,” said Sejba, speaking about OTTI. “But we’ve got to keep looking for these near-term wins of how we give training opportunities differently than we have in the past.”

One of the near-term wins cited by Sejba is an experience given to Guardians called STARC, or the Space Technology Acquisition and Research Course. According to the command, STARC takes a select group of Guardians to MIT Lincoln Labs, a Federally Funded Research Development Center, where they are paired for mentorship and learning opportunities with some of the brightest and best operators in the federal government.

Guardians are paired with experts at MIT’s Haystack Observatory, a multidisciplinary radio science research laboratory specializing in Astronomy, Geospace, and Space Technology, said Sejba.

“Sitting down and getting tours and briefings and one-on-one discussions with some of the best radar operators that we probably have in our country… learning techniques and how they track threats is an example of an experience that has extreme value to our Guardians,” said Sejba.

Sejba called on the audience to partner with the U.S. Space Force and STARCOM for similar opportunities, which will enable readiness and training for tomorrow’s conflicts.

“And so as you think about your companies,” said Sejba, in front of hundreds of industry, academia, and international military partners, “What are some of the experiences you might be able to offer the Space Force? Can we send Guardians to join you for a day or a week? What would the experience they would take from that? This is just one example of the types of training that we’re looking at that could make a difference and actually form stronger bonds between Guardians and our industry players.”

Other examples of today’s wins cited by Sejba included the Electronic Warfare Operations Kit, or EWOK, a simulator in use today at ROTC, Officer Training School, and initial skills training. EWOK was prototyped by the Space Force Supra Coder Team, according to the command, and is purpose-built to train the nation’s newest Guardians to conduct mock joint Electronic Warfare warfighting, to include mission planning, execution, and debriefing.

One wrinkle noted by Sejba that is particularly effective: surprising Guardians by blaring rock music during particularly stressful situations.

“The idea is to add some confusion to the training and to make it more complicated,” said Sejba. “Teams can’t easily talk and communicate, and adds to a realistic training environment. This is another capability that we’re using right now to train Guardians on the fundamentals of Electronic Warfare.”

Sejba cited several other examples of near-term wins, to include several platforms and capabilities used during the command’s RED SKIES, BLACK SKIES, and MOONLIGHTER exercises. These near-term wins pave the way for an even more integrated and connected future, further implementing OTTI, said Sejba.

“This is not going to happen overnight,” said Sejba. “So we’ve got to be very deliberate about how we build this out. We have a good roadmap as we build out larger operational test and training environment, and we must also look at threats that need to be prepared for right now.”