COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—A Space Force program focused on acquiring commercial satellite imagery and analytics has achieved notable success across various combatant commands. With additional funding from Congress, the service aims to enhance the information and tools available to these commands.
This initiative, known as Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Tracking (TacSRT), began as a pilot program in 2023. It functions as a “marketplace” where military customers seeking timely intelligence can pose questions, prompting industry competition to provide answers.
TacSRT has supported an array of missions, including tracking illegal fishing, aiding humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, facilitating the construction of the Joint-Logistics-Over-the-Shore pier in Gaza, and assisting in the withdrawal of forces from air bases in Niger.
Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman emphasized the effectiveness of the TacSRT team, particularly within U.S. Southern Command, which has collaborated with partner nations to detect and track narcotics operations. The program has contributed to humanitarian efforts and countered malign influence, helping nations like Peru address interference and jamming from China and Russia.
Recently, Congress allocated an additional $40 million to the Space Force under a continuing resolution, which Saltzman described as a “congressional vote of confidence” in the service’s efforts to utilize commercial capabilities.
To meet growing demand, the Space Force is expanding its “Tap Lab,” the TacSRT tools, application, and process laboratory, to create new methods and tools for commands, according to Col. Rob Davis, the program executive officer of space sensing. This lab will provide ad hoc support to answer various questions from combatant commands, such as border monitoring and human activity analysis.
Commercial companies have advocated for further TacSRT funding. However, the Space Force’s initiatives to purchase from commercial providers have faced jurisdictional challenges regarding authority. The National Reconnaissance Office oversees the acquisition of ISR imagery from commercial sources, while the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency handles analytic products.
Since the program’s inception, the Space Force has strived to avoid duplicative efforts, as stated by Davis, who noted a focus on maturity and process coordination in fulfilling requests from commands. He mentioned strong collaborative relationships with counterparts in the NGA.
Vendors are keenly awaiting a resolution from the Space Force and the intelligence community regarding procurement authority, with reports indicating that an agreement is in the “final stages.”
