This marked the first time a space team has assumed expeditionary command and control of all RS23 space operations in the southern hemisphere, Whitaker said.Īfter several days operating in Cali, a space-ACE proactive maneuver broke new ground as the team moved 30 operators and three mission systems via Colombian Air Force airlift to set up in a second forward operating location in Rionegro, Colombia, in an early morning maneuver, Whitaker said. Once partner nation teams were up-and-running largely on their own, an exercise input drove the space team to demonstrate the ACE concept of interoperability by forcing command and control of the systems to shift from the Joint Task Force Space Defense Commercial Operation headquartered in Peru to the field-based systems in Colombia.

“These readily-available systems allow us to train our partner nations using easily acquired, cost-effective capabilities that can be tailored to the mission at hand,” Whitaker said. The team made use of portable commercial off-the-shelf systems for the exercise, namely, the Olympus Bolt intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and Multi-band Assessment of the Communication Environment (MACE) systems.

Jonathan Whitaker, Director of Space Forces for 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern).ĭuring the exercise, the forward-deployed team rapidly detected and reported live-fire electromagnetic interference sent from an exercise input cell attempting to disrupt a commercial satellite on orbit over the Atlantic Ocean. Space Force Guardians, Colombian Air Force Guardianes, and Ecuadorian Air Force members worked together to build mobile space detection systems at a forward operating location in Cali, Colombia, with command and control centered in Lima, Peru, said Lt. Operation Thundergun Express is a 21-day space deployment exercise nested under RS23, focused on space domain awareness training and providing real-world satellite imagery for host and partner nations. Southern Command history and demonstrating the real-world impact of Agile Combat Employment operations for space. A coalition space team made history during exercise Resolute Sentinel 23, executing the first-ever defensive space control operation in U.

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