The auditory content of this piece is presented by the Air & Space Forces Association, commemorating and assisting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Discover further details at afa.org
Innovative methods for evaluating Space Force equipment are quickening its provision to operators, but the service requires more evaluators and potentially a dedicated space-centric test center, authorities stated on April 1.
These are crucial elements of the nascent force’s assessment techniques and future actions that will ensure the continuous introduction of novel technology into operations, noted Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, deputy chief of space operations.
Schiess explained that the service has incorporated acquisition personnel, testing experts, and operators into “test integration teams” during the initial phases of new programs, in his remarks at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Security Forum in Arlington, Va.
This diverges from the conventional approach, which entailed comprehensive developmental assessment prior to engaging system users, whose evaluation demands were often distinct.
By uniting these diverse groups at an early stage in the process, Schiess said the collective can assess if it possesses a preliminary “minimum viable product” that might not flawlessly clear every assessment but still provides a new capability to the force.
“Perhaps bringing the operators, the integrators, and the contractors truly together to discern what precisely will be subjected to evaluation, at the appropriate moment for assessment, to then affirm, ‘Hey, this is something that we can present to a combatant commander,’” Schiess elaborated.
His remarks mirrored sentiments expressed by his superior, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, at AFA’s Warfare Symposium in February.
“We’re dismantling the barriers that formerly separated acquisitions, test, and operations. Testing is a tool for an objective,” Saltzman said during a keynote speech. “It illustrates, via information and robust examination, that systems will perform reliably when needed, but no volume of evaluation can remove all hazards or avert all mishaps.”
The more unified approach aims to gather preliminary evaluation information, appraise dangers, supply an operational item for deployment, and consistently refine the technology during use, Saltzman mentioned.
“We will cease to enjoy the privilege of chasing flawlessness when a sufficiently adequate system furnishes warfighting capacity on a more militarily pertinent timeframe,” Saltzman asserted.
The Space Force is also assessing evaluation requirements to additionally simplify the procedure, Schiess conveyed. Branch authorities are collaborating with Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink to identify the necessary assessments.
Schiess said evaluation blueprints will require customization for individual systems contingent on the level of hazard the branch deems acceptable for a particular mission. For example, he noted, not all systems demand the equivalent level of strictness as a nuclear command and control asset.
“I think we are assuming hazards in those domains, but it’s a necessary risk, because were we to take no action then we would incur substantial danger since we would be supplying no tools to the warfighter,” Schiess affirmed.
At least one industry partner, contributing to a subsequent discussion group, concurred, characterizing both government acquisition and the space industry as a whole as generally hesitant to take chances.
“It’s exceptionally simple to be cautious, truly effortless. We should conduct another evaluation, reduce our pace, let us allot some duration, spend a month formulating an assessment, half a year for us to execute an evaluation, subsequently we will discuss it, afterwards we will reach a conclusion, we will ensure its impeccable operation,” stated Jeff Hanke, president of space systems for L3Harris. “Such is not rapidity.”
Hanke said sector executives particularly must weigh hazards and comprehend that certain perils are unavoidable.
But to adopt this methodology, the service requires additional evaluators, necessitating an increase in staff, Schiess explained.
“A key issue arises because, and you’ll see upon the release of our financial plan … that we require a larger workforce to accomplish this,” he stated. “Because the very same users are managing the existing platforms or transitioning to a novel platform, and we must enlist users who may lack prior experience in this area, prepare them to collaborate with procurement specialists and vendors to be able to do that.”
Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna informed lawmakers in a Feb. 11 session that the 10,000-strong military service division needs to double in size to fulfill its developing operational demands and confront escalating dangers.
Furthermore, the service is examining whether it requires a proprietary evaluation mechanism, independent of the Air Force. Presently, the Air Force’s Director of Test and Evaluation and the Air Force Test Center supervise Space Force assessments.
“We’re exploring the future configuration of that, will that be a distinct Space Force evaluation body?” Schiess queried.
The Space Force created System Delta 81 in September 2025 to assist Space Operations Command and Space Training and Readiness Command, or STARCOM, in acquiring evaluation and instructional facilities.
STARCOM supervises the branch’s array of facilities for authentic, threat-aware evaluation and instructional settings, dubbed the National Space Test and Training Complex, or NSTTC, according to the service’s 2022 NSTTC Vision Statement.
Schiess chose not to detail specific initiatives employing the evaluation integration team framework owing to their confidential designation.
But at the Warfare Symposium, Saltzman offered an instance—electronic warfare. He refrained from emphasizing a specific platform, but he might have alluded to the Meadowlands satellite communications jammer, manufactured by L3Harris. The company supplied two prototype systems to the Space Force in April 2025. The initial operational model of the compact ground-based satellite signal jammer was received in December.
L3Harris reutilized existing equipment from the former Counter Communications System which Meadowlands is supplanting. The enhancement lessened the quantity of containers needed for conveying the unit from 23 to seven, substituting the CCS electronic components.
The Space Force’s unit specializing in cyber-electronic conflict, Mission Delta 3, participated across the conception, planning, and evaluation of Meadowlands, personnel from the unit informed journalists in December.
The auditory content of this piece is presented by the Air & Space Forces Association, commemorating and assisting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Discover further details at afa.org