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News | Jan. 25, 2017

USSTRATCOM plans and policy director visits Republic of Korea Space Operations Center

By USSTRATCOM Public Affairs

U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Clinton Crosier, U.S. Strategic Command plans and policy director, held bi-lateral discussions with Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) Brig. Gen. Dongkyu Lee, studies and analyses assessments wing commander, and other Republic of Korea (ROK) leaders to discuss U.S.-ROK military collaboration in space and other various topics during a visit to ROKAF Headquarters and the Korean Space Operations Center (KSpOC) here, Jan. 20, 2017.

 

Discussion included the forthcoming ROK liaison officer (LNO) to USSTRATCOM, expected to be in place within the year to join LNOs from Australia, Canada, Denmark and the United Kingdom.

 

“The liaison officer placement will provide the Republic of Korea greater visibility into USSTRATCOM mission areas to include cyber, space, and missile defense,” said Crosier.

 

The discussions also demonstrated USSTRATCOM’s continued commitment to strengthening relationships and continuing collaboration with allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

The U.S. has long worked with other nations and international organizations for the responsible and peaceful use of outer space.  The U.S. and ROK have shared Space Situational Awareness (SSA) data since the signing of their sharing memorandum of understanding in 2014.

 

“The space mission is one way to enhance partnerships through combined space activity,” said Crosier. “Our visit shows the importance the U.S. is taking in the Republic of Korea Air Force partnership and I look forward to continued increased interaction.”

 

Lee emphasized the importance of SSA sharing cooperation.

 

“I hope that we can be reciprocal in the future by sharing space capabilities,” said Lee.

 

The increasingly congested and contested space environment is of growing concern for all nations. The growing volume of space debris dramatically increases the threat of a collision.  As a result, the U.S. collaborates with foreign partners, the private sector and intergovernmental organizations to improve SSA — specifically, to improve the shared ability to rapidly detect, warn of, characterize and attribute man-made disturbances to space systems.

 

Currently, the U.S. provides SSA through agreements with 13 governmental and intergovernmental organizations, and 54 commercial entities.

 

To increase resiliency, USSTRATCOM is developing additional comprehensive solutions to integrate and protect critical space-based capabilities as part of the U.S. commitment to protecting our allied and partners' space systems from disruption or loss of capabilities.

 

One such collaboration effort is the SSA table top exercise, Global Sentinel 2017.  USSTRATCOM extended an invitation to the KSpOC to observe this year’s exercise, which is scheduled later this year.

 

“Global Sentinel is the premier international forum for partner and allied space integration designed to test Space Situational Awareness in a multinational and collaborative space environment,” said Crosier.

 

The ROK will become the ninth nation to participate in the exercise, in addition to the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and commercial entities.

 

One of nine DoD unified combatant commands, USSTRATCOM has global strategic missions assigned through the Unified Command Plan that include strategic deterrence; space operations; cyberspace operations; joint electronic warfare; global strike; missile defense; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and analysis and targeting.