SCHRIEVER SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFNS) — The National Space Defense Center has created the NSDC Advanced Concept Experimentation to innovate and optimize the NSDC’s ability to execute the protect and defend mission.
The NACE program’s mission is to rapidly iterate and improve space superiority, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, and defensive cyber command-and-control processes and procedures. NACE is the NSDC’s operationally and tactically focused venue to rapidly improve its ability to execute assigned missions through experimentation, utilizing space warfighters in live-ops and tabletop exercises using current and near-operational capabilities.
NACE is the next generation of experimentation within the NSDC designed to focus efforts on advancing mission execution, generating a warfighter mentality, and defining operational imperatives. NACE is not an exercise or evaluation used to validate processes and procedures or operator training. NACE events are designed to leverage mission partner opportunities while incorporating experimentation into existing integration efforts when possible.
“The NACE experiments are focused on integration and synchronization with mission partners and improving processes and operations holistically,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jason Utulo, Operations Experimentation director. “These experiments enable collaboration to see what processes enable tactical units the flexibility to achieve their warfighting functions. This will help understand what feedback mechanisms the center needs to fulfill Global C2/Battle Management obligations … and just get better at warfighting.”
NACE development and execution methodology are uncommon in the military operations community. Military operators usually have exercise, training, and/or test experience and often seek to fit NACE inside one of those constructs. Although NACE has some common elements and can support those efforts, it is different. Instead, NACE leverages the Agile Development Sprint concept, defined as a short period of focused effort seeking to rapidly advance an operational or tactical issue in new ways. Additionally, NACE utilizes a “scientific method like” approach to define a hypothesis and develop a scenario to prove or disprove the hypothesis.
The primary objectives of the NACE program are to:
-Improve and prepare the NSDC through rehearsal and refinement of existing C2 procedures to plan, execute, and assess space, cyber, and intelligence operations with the whole-of-center approach.
-Optimize support to real-world testing and future capability process and procedure development.
-Identify risks, issues, and gaps in current capabilities, processes, and authorities that support execution of space operations.
NACE events are free or low-cost experiments using tabletop, small scale, and large-scale field experimentation to rapidly identify operational and tactical level issues and then develop, refine, and prototype solutions. These events may be overlaid with other higher headquarters experimentation, advanced training and exercise events in support of common goals and may also contribute to NSDC operational crew advanced training through their participation in creative problem solving.
With the support of mission partners and tactical units, through NACE, the NSDC implemented a space tasking cycle and flexible battle rhythm schedule ensuring the NSDC is providing the best support to the joint warfighter in defense of the nation.
This "National Space Defense Center spearheads NACE experiments" was originally found on https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/
