Building faster, smarter, more resilient space and missile defense forces

Hello, I'm Jen Judson with Defense News, land warfare reporter here, and I am joined by Lieutenant General Sean Ganey, who is the commander of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command

Thank you so much for taking the time to join me here at AOSA. Thanks for inviting me

You have a lot going on right now in your space, but you are working on a strategy

So talk to us about where you are with that. You have begun that

Where are you in the process? and broad brush strokes, it's not out

but what are some of the things you're keeping in mind as you craft the strategy? Yeah, we in Space and Missile Defense Command

are excited about the Army's AMD strategy. You know, the Army has done a lot of work in the past

in developing strategies, vision, to ensure we're staying ahead of the threat

But with the evolution of drone warfare, lessons learned inside of Ukraine

in Israel and seeing the large volumes and mass of capabilities that can be used against our forces

and the complexity, you know, the mixture of tactical missiles, cruise missiles, and UASs

has created a dynamic that we felt we had to address now in a new strategy and lay out a way

forward for the department to move forward with to be able to ensure we're developing the proper

capabilities to meet the threat and then push beyond the current threat. So the focus of, as I

highlighted, the lessons learned, change in warfare, and how we as an Army, really a validation of what

we're doing with our integrated battle command system, IBCS, and the integration of several

sensors and shooters into a common architecture moving forward is how we have to fight

And so the strategy right now has gone through all the requisite level staffing

We will brief it to the chief of staff of the Army this week and look to have it approved

by next month and be out by next month. So the force, we've been very collaborative moving forward with the force

So the force has already seen it, understand it, and once we get it through, the Army senior leaders will be released and official

Can you highlight some progress that you've made on the counter-UAS front

in terms of developing capability? I know that you've had some interesting demonstrations of your invitation

that will feed into what you do. So talk a little bit about some of that

Yeah, I think what the Army has done in working with the Secretary of War of getting the JATF 401 established

and now putting rapid capability development, getting it out to the warfighter

They're doing demonstrations, looking at several different type of technology areas, and more importantly, getting it out to the warfighter, you know, whether it's CONUS or overseas

So I think over the next several months we get a better sense of how that organization is doing with getting capability to the warfighter faster And not only that but more intuitive for the operator to be able to operate because we going to be able to get a better sense of how that organization is doing with getting capability to the warfighter faster and not only that but more intuitive for the operator to be able to operate because no longer do we have the luxury of putting

in air defense soldier specifically trained to shoot down threats from the air

We now, it's a holistic approach where everybody has to be able to do that skill set

So we have to be able to develop capabilities that are soldier agnostic and that's what

they're in the process of doing right now. Okay, great. You had, the Army recently announced plans

to transfer the U.S.-based air and missile defense commands to SMDC. Talk about what's driving that

decision, and what does this change mean for SMDC's mission and structure? Very exciting

very exciting. So, you know, you now have a three-star space and missile defense command

that has traditionally focused on the Army space mission as the proponent

developing space capabilities. We have a center of excellence focused on space capabilities

but we also have the 100th GMD, which focuses on the intercontinental ballistic missile defense of the homeland

Not a lot of people know that we do that. And so the missile defense portion of the command was really focused on that

and my role as the senior Army Air Defender to advise and help frame modernization for our branch

Now, taking the two CONUS-based Army Air and Missile Defense Commands, putting them under this command is a great move

Moving forward with the transformation from FORSCOM to the Western Hemisphere Command

created that opportunity. And it allows us, and also as part of that process, we moved from Army Service Component Command for GMD to Northcom to holistic Air and Missile Defense for GMD for Army Service Component Command for Northcom in the process

So we've taken on a greater role for AMD in the homeland. The Army has assigned two Army Air and Missile Defense commands to help us in assisting that mission set

but also manage the global employment of forces. Right now, 30 Second has been focused on CENTCOM AOR

but they have a larger role globally to support across the world and in the homeland

And with the growing importance and the prioritization of the homeland, And I think it's appropriate and it's all coming together nicely for this command

You've talked previously about how you expect the Army's role to grow in terms of defending the homeland

What could that look like? What will that look like as you kind of work through that

There's still a lot to work through. The Army has and will continue to have an important role defending the homeland

I highlighted how the Army, through our GBIs, defends the homeland from an intercontinental ballistic

missile attack now. The Army, through our National Guard partners, and the 263rd defends the national capital region

And so any type of future requirements you now have an organization that you can tap into and coordinate using a multi framework to be able to get after whatever required in the future

Could you provide an update on the progress of the 40 Delta Space Operations specialty that

you're standing in? Yes, another exciting area within this command. I talked a little bit earlier

about the Army space portfolio and how this command, as their proponency for Army space, is really involved

And, you know, we just saw that we had a bad business model inside of the Army

where we were taking MI soldiers, Signal Corps soldiers, and air defense soldiers

getting them for three years and having to train them to a difficult MOS requirement

and put them inside of a formation and then lose them all within three years

And so we weren't able to maximize their participation inside of the formation

We weren't able to build a professional noncommissioned officer corps. And with the growth and importance of Army space and the ability

the requirement to support the Army in a close tactical fight and the growing formations across the Army

We felt at the time it was right to develop a professional noncommissioned officer corps

and a professional Army space soldier. So we're in the process of now evaluating, recruiting, identifying the best of the best

It's going to be very competitive. The soldiers that have from MI, Signal Corps, and Air Defense that have moved into our formations

love the Army space mission set. It's highly technical. It meets the skill sets and what our young soldiers want to do

And so it'll be very competitive, and we're excited. We're starting that process now, and officially October of 2026, it will activate

And our space formations will be filled by 40 Delta space soldiers

Okay, great. What's the current status of the Army Space Operations Branch

and how is it evolving to meet the demands of joining combined space operations now

Another exciting opportunity for this command in Army space. And natural evolution, you know, the first step was the 40 Delta

Army Space MOS. And so we follow that up with the opportunity to now take our professional

non-commissioned officers, soldiers, and take what we're already doing from the officer corps side

which is a functional area. They transitioned at a certain point in their career to FA-40 Army

Space Operations. So now having the opportunity to create a branch and properly lay out the

professional timeline of soldiers, non-commissioned officers, and officers, and eventually warrant officers in the future. We just believe, again, now is the right time with the change of

warfare, the opportunities, and the challenges in space, and the increasing challenges that

will be out there. To have a branch executing that mission set is important. How does SMDC coordinate with U.S. Space Command and other services to ensure Army equities are

represented in broader space operations? Yeah, so fortunately, as the commander of space and

I'm also the Army Service Component Command for Space Com. I have a lot of jobs

And the ability to engage pretty much daily with General Whiting and Space Com and his staff and work closely with my staff And you know the operational portion of my command is in Colorado Springs

So I have two headquarters, one in Huntsville and one in Colorado Springs. So we're right there, close coordination with Spacecom

So as Spacecom works through the ysis of whether they want to leverage Space Force

Army space, or Marine space assets, we're right there in the mix and the planning and

synchronization of all of that. Okay. Okay. SMDC's Innovation Lab has been working on several new technologies

What are some of the most promising developments? For example, the small form factor, counter space capabilities that we've heard about

lots of other things you have going on, but what are some of the new technologies that have you excited

Yeah, so you heard the Secretary of the Army and Chief of Staff of the Army talk about moving fast

transformation, using innovative technology, getting it to our hands of our soldiers quickly

ensuring that capability is intuitive to our soldiers and then getting their feedback and changing and not wasting time to do that

Well, we were at a defining moment in our capability development when we saw an opportunity from soldier feedback that they wanted something smaller

transport, almost transit case type capability to be able to employ across the battlefield

So we slew to our tech center inside of our command. They worked with industry and were able to rapidly, in months, develop a capability, transit-type capability

and we immediately got it out to the soldiers of the multi-domain task force and my first base brigade

got feedback, made it better, and now are integrating that system into some of our other systems

So we have a version one, version two, but continuous transformation, transformation in contact to help us move faster, be more innovative and really respond to the soldiers with the tech that's out there and that they want to use now

What other technologies do you have your eye on? I mean, AI could play a big role

Hypersonics, there's directed energy. What do you see as potentially transformative for Army, Space and Missile Defense missions

All of the above. Okay. So you nailed it. I think the ability to leverage artificial intelligence in the work that we're doing

So as I look at the space side, I have in support of SpaceCom a limited amount of space control planning teams that do work across all the COCOMs

supporting really the sole planning team for SpaceCom. Spacecom, and their ability to be able to get through a large amount of intelligence data

AI is something that's complementing that and helping that roll a lot easier

Also, the integration of AI into our air and missile defense systems, giving the operator

the ability, when I talked about our strategy of being able to respond to a threat that's

complex, that's overwhelming, having AI and improved technology inside of our systems

is something we're looking at very closely moving forward. Well, you have a lot going on in your command

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day at AUSA to talk to me

That's been great. And have a good rest of your show. I appreciate your time

Thank you