What’s next in space and missile defense? Army leader weighs in

My guest today is Lieutenant General Sean Ganey, who is the Commanding General of the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command

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

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

And prior to your current role, you served as the director of the Joint Counter Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, or JCO, JCO

which positions you, again, at the forefront of emerging threats and technological innovation there

And we'll also talk about that a little bit. But let's dive into a big general question to get things flowing

So give me your top three priorities as commander of SMDC, given what we've seen in terms of the evolving threats out there

and how resourcing is changing for space and missile defense in the new administration

Yeah, my role as the commander of Space and Missile Defense Command and JIFIC-IMD

our first prioritization was the reorganization of our command as we move into new territory

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

and providing capability from additional forces that we will receive in the future to be prepared

So that's our first priority. Our second priority is the AMD modernization effort

I serve as the Air and Missile Defense Integrator to the Chief of Staff of the Army

and advisor on Army modernization, and we're at a critical point in time

where our modernization efforts are key to the growing threat that we're all seeing out there

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

and now we're deploying capabilities to our forces to where we're not only delivering capability that's large capability

to be able to get after a range of requirements, but we're also delivering smaller capability

that allows us to be flexible, push forward in the close combat fight

And so we're really excited with what's going on in Space and Missile Defense Command and the future

All right. So let's first zoom in on the space portion of what the command does

You know, that often doesn't get to come first, so we can focus on that first. How is the threat evolving in space

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

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

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

And as you look at the recent conflicts, space has been heavily played in all aspects

from whether it's precision fires, the ability to degrade the adversary's ability to be able to launch effects accurately or defeat effects

So our capabilities that we're developing will allow our maneuver force to do shoot, move, and communicate

and not have to worry about space effects as they do it, and then enhance our capabilities

that leverage space effects moving forward. So how do you see the role of space evolving

in multi-domain operations? And how are you addressing threats to potential U.S. space assets

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

But how does that all come together and the roles that are played there

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

So our multi-domain task forces have space control companies capable of affecting space effects when it comes to maneuvering communications and shooting accurately

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

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

but really getting the capabilities down to the tactical edge. And you highlighted the TSEG

That's another element with the effort from our Army space to get that formation down to U.S. Army Pacific

and be able to leverage more in a priority theater and giving that commander assigned forces that they can leverage across the battlefield

Is that already there? And what are you learning from that? Or are you still preparing

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

The formation will stand up in FY28. Okay. So we are on glide path

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

We formulated the size, and it will have two space control companies

and it will have other high-altitude balloon capabilities, which is a capability we don't talk a lot about

But there's a lot of development working closely with USASOC and experimenting that capability out there

So that component will be part of that formation also. And as we look at opportunities to continue to grow and refine that formation

this is a great test bed by getting it out rapidly in USARPAC and then taking the core formation

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

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

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

Yeah. The main feedback we're getting back from the forest, we're providing capabilities now

They're able to provide space-space effects, but the feedback we're getting is they want it smaller

lighter, more mobile. So taking the capabilities we have now, leveraging technology to make it

smaller and mobile, which is out there and which we're leveraging, and then the warfighter is able

to push it down to the tactical edge. And that's the main feedback we're getting. Also, just as we

talked about, the high altitude balloons. So when you're in a contested and denied environment

you're looking at how can we leverage other platforms to provide some of the same or similar

capabilities so we continue to have uninterrupted comms, communication, continue to leverage

maneuver and maneuver under obscurenness. And so we're just excited about all the technologies that's being developed and that's going to

come on the forefront for Army space