A new platform under the Front Door office within the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command will streamline the two-way flow of unclassified information, or UCI, with the commercial space sector on threats deemed critical to USSF operations.
Called Orbital Watch, the initiative will tap Front Door’s “vast ties to industry” as a conduit for threat information dissemination, Col. Richard Kniseley, senior materiel leader of SSC’s Commercial Space Office, said in the command’s Tuesday announcement of the program.
“This initiative is in direct alignment with the DOD Commercial Space Integration Strategy and the USSF Commercial Space Strategy, as well as congressional guidance,” the SSC official noted further.
SSC’s Phased-In Implementation Approach
Front Office is activating Orbital Watch in stages, with its initial beta phase aimed at providing industry with quarterly UCI assessments of risks evolving within the space domain. In its full operational capability phase, the platform will create a “Commercial Portal” to enable a secure two-way threat information-sharing between government and the commercial space sector.
To launch the platform, Front Door recently released to more than 900 commercial space services providers an unclassified threat fact sheet prepared by Headquarters Space Force Intelligence, SSC said.
“Front Door is the USSF organization with the technological capability and authority to disseminate unclassified threat information to a growing catalog of commercial space providers in a timely and organized manner,” noted Victor Vigliotti, SSC Front Door director.
IC, Pentagon Partners
Orbital Watch is being undertaken in cooperation with the intelligence community and the Pentagon’s Space Policy office, according to a Breaking Defense report. Interest from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence triggered the establishment of Orbital Watch, Kniseley also told Breaking Defense.
Front Door was established in October 2022 to facilitate SSC’s industry engagement through a team of personnel that can respond to inquiries of companies seeking to do business with the service branch.
