Guardians Practice Delivery of Operational Planning Products During Exercise in South America

Four guardians from the Space Systems Command’s Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking unit participated in a 10-day multinational training exercise in South America featuring real-life operations.

The SRT guardians and their counterparts from the United Kingdom and South America tested their ability to deliver operational planning products to unified combatant command users. OPPs can be used for maritime awareness, illegal maritime activities and humanitarian issues.

During the exercise, the guardians used geolocation, scanned array radar technologies and other space assets and data to inform their counterparts on how to respond to two different scenarios, the Space Systems Command said.

The guardians’ work is one of several collaborative efforts by SSC to improve awareness and response capabilities.

In April, SSC Chief Information Officer Jennifer Krolikowski shared that the combatant command and the private sector would test the Enigma shared cloud environment. According to Krolikowski, Enigma would connect personnel while creating a full and integrated data generation and transmission picture.

In March, SSC and NASA partnered to launch eight experimental payloads to the International Space Station supporting the DOD’s space technology development efforts. The mission was designed to improve future space capabilities.