COLORADO SPRINGS — The U.S. Area Drive’s procurement arm introduced a brand new intelligence-sharing program aimed toward warning industrial satellite tv for pc operators about potential threats to their orbital belongings.
The Area Programs Command stated the brand new program, referred to as “Orbital Watch,” will distribute unclassified menace information to greater than 900 house firms registered by means of the command’s “Entrance Door” portal, no matter whether or not they maintain authorities contracts or safety clearances.
“As house threats proceed to evolve — from cyber intrusions and digital warfare to adversarial on-orbit actions — Orbital Watch intends to speak vital unclassified menace info to make sure industrial suppliers can construct resilient programs and mitigate threats,” the Area Programs Command stated in a press release April 8.
The U.S. navy’s Industrial Integration Cell (CIC) program for the previous decade has shared intelligence with a choose group of house firms together with Blacksky, Kratos, LeoLabs, Telesat, Eutelsat America, Hughes Community Programs, Intelsat, Iridium, Maxar, SES, SpaceX, Viasat and XTA. Whereas CIC participation requires Protection Division contracts and personnel with safety clearances, Orbital Watch has no such necessities.
The initiative comes amid rising considerations about threats to house belongings, which have change into vital infrastructure for international communications, navigation and Earth remark. The industrial satellite tv for pc sector has expanded dramatically lately, with lots of of recent satellites launched into orbit by each established aerospace companies and rising house startups.
Area-based threats embrace bodily anti-satellite weapons, digital jamming, cyber assaults, and ground-based directed power weapons. A number of nations, together with Russia and China, have demonstrated anti-satellite capabilities lately, prompting elevated deal with house area consciousness and safety.
Col. Richard Kniseley, senior materiel chief of the command’s Industrial Area Workplace, stated this system’s focus is on “sharing menace info in a well timed method,” noting that the Entrance Door infrastructure is supplied for this objective.
This system will deploy progressively, starting with quarterly menace info distributions throughout its beta part.
Victor Vigliotti, director of the Entrance Door initiative, stated Orbital Watch goals to “strengthen collaboration with industrial house suppliers and enhance collective situational consciousness.”
The long term goal is a safe “industrial portal” enabling two-way menace info sharing between authorities and industrial operators.
