What’s next in space and missile defense? Army leader weighs in
Aug 15, 2025
With ever-evolving threats and a new administration in the White House, the head of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command shares his top priorities.
View Video Transcript
0:00
My guest today is Lieutenant General Sean Ganey, who is the Commanding General of the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command
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Lieutenant General Ganey, thank you for joining us today. Thank you. General Ganey, you lead the Army's efforts to develop and integrate cutting-edge space, missile defense, and high-altitude capabilities
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and we're here to talk about all of those things today. Your command plays a critical role in shaping the Army's modernization strategy and strengthening multi-domain operations in an increasingly contested global environment
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And prior to your current role, you served as the director of the Joint Counter Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, or JCO, JCO
0:36
which positions you, again, at the forefront of emerging threats and technological innovation there
0:42
And we'll also talk about that a little bit. But let's dive into a big general question to get things flowing
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So give me your top three priorities as commander of SMDC, given what we've seen in terms of the evolving threats out there
0:56
and how resourcing is changing for space and missile defense in the new administration
1:00
Yeah, my role as the commander of Space and Missile Defense Command and JIFIC-IMD
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our first prioritization was the reorganization of our command as we move into new territory
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and an expanding role in protection of the homeland. So in doing so, we optimized our headquarters to be more oriented on defending the homeland
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and providing capability from additional forces that we will receive in the future to be prepared
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So that's our first priority. Our second priority is the AMD modernization effort
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I serve as the Air and Missile Defense Integrator to the Chief of Staff of the Army
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and advisor on Army modernization, and we're at a critical point in time
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where our modernization efforts are key to the growing threat that we're all seeing out there
1:53
from missiles and drones and it important we move forward on path with that effort And a final effort would be our space capabilities You know we released our space vision we released our Army space training strategy
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and now we're deploying capabilities to our forces to where we're not only delivering capability that's large capability
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to be able to get after a range of requirements, but we're also delivering smaller capability
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that allows us to be flexible, push forward in the close combat fight
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And so we're really excited with what's going on in Space and Missile Defense Command and the future
2:34
All right. So let's first zoom in on the space portion of what the command does
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You know, that often doesn't get to come first, so we can focus on that first. How is the threat evolving in space
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China and Russia are competing heavily in space. And I highlighted in my speech that that's a competition that we can't allow them to win
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So we need to continue our investments and continue to evolve the capability to be able to meet the needs of our warfighters on the ground
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So we have to be able to deliver capability that allows our forces to be able to maneuver, shoot, and communicate without impediment from space effects
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And as you look at the recent conflicts, space has been heavily played in all aspects
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from whether it's precision fires, the ability to degrade the adversary's ability to be able to launch effects accurately or defeat effects
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So our capabilities that we're developing will allow our maneuver force to do shoot, move, and communicate
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and not have to worry about space effects as they do it, and then enhance our capabilities
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that leverage space effects moving forward. So how do you see the role of space evolving
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in multi-domain operations? And how are you addressing threats to potential U.S. space assets
3:57
I know the Army was planning on establishing interdiction capabilities You talked a little bit you hear things like theater strike effects group and you hear about space capabilities that are taking shape within the multi task force units
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But how does that all come together and the roles that are played there
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Yeah, so as the Army space proponent at SMDC, we do the training, the fielding of capability, the development of capability, and the Army is investing in force structure all the way down to the tactical level
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So our multi-domain task forces have space control companies capable of affecting space effects when it comes to maneuvering communications and shooting accurately
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From an SMD perspective, we provide space forces to Space Command as assigned forces to do some of the strategic missions, but also augment some of the close fight activities
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We also do a lot with space and cyber, and we see that as a future opportunity to leverage space effects and then combining that with access from the soft forces and then integrating some of the cyber effects we see as a great opportunity to enhance space capabilities as we move forward
5:11
but really getting the capabilities down to the tactical edge. And you highlighted the TSEG
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That's another element with the effort from our Army space to get that formation down to U.S. Army Pacific
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and be able to leverage more in a priority theater and giving that commander assigned forces that they can leverage across the battlefield
5:34
Is that already there? And what are you learning from that? Or are you still preparing
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We have been exercising through my Capabilities Development Division the construct of the TSEG and through exercises, how it would operate working closely with USERPAC
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The formation will stand up in FY28. Okay. So we are on glide path
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You have some time. So yes we are on GLADPATH to grow that formation so that they have that capability down at the tactical level Okay so to be determined on the size and some of the things that it
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We formulated the size, and it will have two space control companies
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and it will have other high-altitude balloon capabilities, which is a capability we don't talk a lot about
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But there's a lot of development working closely with USASOC and experimenting that capability out there
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So that component will be part of that formation also. And as we look at opportunities to continue to grow and refine that formation
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this is a great test bed by getting it out rapidly in USARPAC and then taking the core formation
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and then looking at how do we want to grow an objective formation based off the feedback that we're going to get from USARPAC
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Okay. So what are some of the things that you're identifying that these types of units are going to need that you may not have yet
7:03
Can you talk a little bit about some of the capabilities? You said high-altitude balloons, but any other capabilities that you're looking to pursue
7:10
Yeah. The main feedback we're getting back from the forest, we're providing capabilities now
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They're able to provide space-space effects, but the feedback we're getting is they want it smaller
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lighter, more mobile. So taking the capabilities we have now, leveraging technology to make it
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smaller and mobile, which is out there and which we're leveraging, and then the warfighter is able
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to push it down to the tactical edge. And that's the main feedback we're getting. Also, just as we
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talked about, the high altitude balloons. So when you're in a contested and denied environment
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you're looking at how can we leverage other platforms to provide some of the same or similar
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capabilities so we continue to have uninterrupted comms, communication, continue to leverage
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maneuver and maneuver under obscurenness. And so we're just excited about all the technologies that's being developed and that's going to
8:05
come on the forefront for Army space
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