National Space Intelligence Center | |
---|---|
Active | 24 June 2022–present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Space Force |
Type | Delta |
Role | Space intelligence |
Size | 350 personnel (expected) [1] |
Part of | Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Intelligence |
Headquarters | Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio |
Commanders | |
Commander | Col Marcus D. Starks |
Deputy Director | Cheryl Richmond [2] |
Senior Enlisted Leader | CMSgt Melissa M. Owens [3] |
The National Space Intelligence Center(NSIC) also known as "Space Delta 18" or "DEL 18", is the United States Space Force's intelligence agency. It is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and activated on 24 June 2022.
NSIC is a field operating agency that is responsible for performing national and military space missions and evaluating capabilities, performance, limitations, and vulnerabilities of space and counter-space systems and services. It is the Space Force's counterpart to the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center, Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence, and the Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC). [1]
The establishment of NSIC was ordered by Chief of Space Operations John W. Raymond. [4] It will be formed by transferring NASIC's Space Analysis Squadron and Counter-Space Analysis Squadron from the Space and Missiles Analysis Group to the Space Force. [5] Then Air Force Major General Leah Lauderback, the Space Force director of intelligence (S2)—to whom the center will ultimately report—led the planning effort. Congressional authorization is needed to create a field operating agency that reports directly to the S2. [1]
Awaiting funding for the establishment of the NSIC, the Space Force stood up the Space Force Intelligence Activity (SFIA) on 24 September 2021 as an interim unit. SFIA served under NASIC until the establishment of NSIC. [6] On 24 June 2022, NSIC was activated as Space Delta 18. [7]
On 28 June 2024, DEL 18 and NSIC were transferred from SpOC and redesignated as a field operating agency under the deputy chief of space operations for intelligence. [8] As part of the elevation to field operating agency, it was redesignated to the National Space Defense Center, losing the name Space Delta 18. [9]
The National Space Intelligence Center emblem design incorporates elements from the intelligence and space communities, its National Air and Space Intelligence Center heritage, and looks to the future. It consists of the following elements: [10]
Under its previous designation as Space Delta 18, DEL 18 took on the number 18 in honor of the Space Force becoming the 18th member of the United States Intelligence Community on 15 January 2021. [7] [11]
NSIC is composed of the following two squadrons transferred from NASIC's Space and Missiles Analysis Group. [12]
No. | Commander | Term | Ref | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Duration | ||
1 | Marqus D. Randall | Colonel24 June 2022 | 28 June 2024 | 2 years, 4 days | [13] | |
2 | Marcus D. Starks | Colonel28 June 2024 | Incumbent | 156 days | [8] |
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) northeast of Dayton; Wright Field is approximately 8.0 kilometres (5 mi) northeast of Dayton.
Buckley Space Force Base is a United States Space Force base in Aurora, Colorado named after United States Army Air Service First Lieutenant John Harold Buckley. The base is run by Space Base Delta 2, with major units including the U.S. Space Force's Space Delta 4, the Colorado Air National Guard's 140th Wing, the Denver Naval Operations Support Center, and the National Reconnaissance Office's Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado.
The 2nd Navigation Warfare Squadron is a United States Space Force unit responsible for operating the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation, which provides global navigation, time transfer, and nuclear detonation detection. It is a component of Space Operations Command's Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Integrated Mission Delta (Provisional) and headquartered at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado.
The 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command Sixteenth Air Force. It is stationed at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado. It was reactivated under the 70th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing on 26 September, 2022.
The 18th Intelligence Squadron is an intelligence organization of the United States Air Force, located at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado.
Space Launch Delta 30 is a United States Space Force space launch delta, equivalent to an Air Force air base wing, assigned to Space Systems Command and headquartered at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The Space Launch Delta 30 is responsible for all space launch operations from the west coast, which includes all polar launches. It manages the Western Range and launch activities for the Space Force, Department of Defense, NASA, and other private space corporations. The Space Launch Delta 30 also supports test and evaluation launches of the U.S. Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile force.
The 2nd Space Warning Squadron is part of the Space Delta 4 at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado. It operates the Space-Based Infrared System satellites conducting global monitoring for significant infrared events.
The Space and Missiles Analysis Group is a unit of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center that develops space and counterspace threat assessments and assesses foreign land-based ballistic missile systems with ranges of 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) and greater.
The National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) is the United States Air Force unit for analyzing military intelligence on foreign air forces, weapons, and systems. NASIC assessments of aerospace performance characteristics, capabilities, and vulnerabilities are used to shape national security and defense policies and support weapons treaty negotiations and verification. NASIC provides the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) with specialized intelligence regarding foreign air threats.
Space Operations Command (SpOC) is the United States Space Force's space operations, cyber operations, and intelligence field command. Headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, it consists of its mission deltas, and garrison commands.
Space Training and Readiness Command is the United States Space Force's education, training, doctrine, and test field command. It is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado.
Mission Delta 2 (MD2) is the United States Space Force's space domain awareness delta, headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. Mission Delta 2 tracks and monitors all human made objects from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit and further out to deep space. It also partners with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide weather satellite observation for the U.S. Armed Forces. It consists of the 15th Space Surveillance, 18th Space Defense Squadron, 19th Space Defense Squadron, and 20th Space Surveillance Squadron.
Mission Delta 3 (MD3) is a United States Space Force unit responsible for presenting operational combat-ready electromagnetic warfare forces in support of assigned missions. It is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base.
Mission Delta 4 (MD4) is a United States Space Force unit responsible for providing strategic and theater missile warning and tracking to the United States and its international partners. It operates three constellations of Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) satellites and two types of Ground-Based Radars (GBRs) for the purpose of conducting strategic and theater missile warning and tracking. Additionally, DEL 4 provides tipping and cueing to missile defense forces, battlespace awareness to combatant commanders and technical intelligence for further analysis and manages weapon system architectures and ensures operations are intelligence-led, cyber-resilient, and driven by innovation, while postured to operate in a contested, degraded, and operationally-limited environment.
Space Base Delta 2 is a unit in the United States Space Force. It is assigned to Space Operations Command and headquartered at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, United States.
The United States Space Force is organized by different units: the Space Staff, the field commands, and the space deltas.
Space Delta 7 is a United States Space Force unit responsible for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) for the United States Space Force. The delta provides actionable and time-sensitive intelligence for space domain operations including detection, characterization and targeting of adversary space capabilities. The unit employs a variety of fixed and mobile sensors across the globe operated by intelligence professionals to enable its mission to gain and maintain information dominance in the space domain in the execution of National Defense Strategy priorities. It is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base.
The commander of Space Operations Command is a lieutenant general who leads the field command that provide space forces to the United States Space Command and supports other unified combatant commands. A senior leader in the Space Force, it is only one of three field commanders and, of which, only one of two held by a lieutenant general.
Space Delta 15 is a United States Space Force unit responsible for presenting forces to the National Space Defense Center. It was established on 10 March 2023 as part of Space Operations Command and in December 2023 moved into United States Space Forces – Space. It is headquartered at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado.
Mission Delta 31 (MD31) is a United States Space Force unit responsible for navigation warfare. It was activated on 15 October 2024.