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News | Sept. 25, 2014

DOD Signs Space Data Sharing Agreement with UK

U.S. Strategic Command Public Affairs

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. – U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) signed a Space Situational Awareness (SSA) data sharing agreement with the United Kingdom Sept. 23, 2014, during a Combined Space Operations Principals’ Meeting in Ottawa, Canada.  

The UK joins Canada, Japan, Australia, Italy, France and the Republic of Korea to sign and participate in these agreements that promote safe space operations.

“We are pleased to finalize this data sharing agreement with the UK, one of our closest allies. These agreements are mutually beneficial, provide for greater space flight safety, increase our national security and enhance our 24/7 global operations,” said Adm. Cecil D. Haney, Commander, U.S. Strategic Command.

USSTRATCOM, the agency responsible for space situational awareness information, is committed to promoting a safe, stable, sustainable, and secure space environment through space situational awareness information sharing.  The command shares space situational awareness information and services with non-U.S. government entities that need to transit through and operate safely within the space domain. 

“Space is vital to national security and economic growth, but it is increasingly congested, contested and competitive,” Haney said. “As more countries, companies and organizations field space capabilities and benefit from the use of space systems, it is in our collective interest to act responsibly, to promote transparency and to enhance the long-term sustainability, stability, safety, and security of the space joint operating area.”

These agreements enhance multinational space cooperation by streamlining the process for the international partners and commercial users to request specific information gathered by USSTRATCOM’s Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Such information is crucial for launch support, satellite maneuver planning, support for on-orbit anomalies, electromagnetic interference reporting and investigation, satellite decommissioning activities, and on-orbit conjunction assessments.