U.S. Army Satellite Operations Brigade, 53rd Signal Battalion Soldiers work on an antenna at the Wideband Satellite Communications Operations Center at Fort Meade, Maryland. The newly established brigade executes continuous tactical, operational and strategic satellite communications payload management in support of combatant commands, services, U.S. government agencies and international partners. (U.S. Army photo by Carrie David Campbell)
U.S. Army Satellite Operations Brigade, 53rd Signal Battalion Soldiers work on an antenna at the Wideband Satellite Communications Operations Center at Fort Meade, Maryland. The newly established brigade executes continuous tactical, operational and strategic satellite communications payload management in support of combatant commands, services, U.S. government agencies and international partners. (U.S. Army photo by Carrie David Campbell) (Photo Credit: Carrie Campbell) VIEW ORIGINAL

PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. – Satellites are one of the most important communications tools used on the 21st century battlefield. Keeping them in good health and available to the warfighter is a 24/7 job---and that job requires knowing who to call when you need help.

With the warfighters needs in mind, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command hosted the U.S. Space Command-led, Satellite Communications Summit here July 12-15. Participants from the U.S. Army Satellite Operations Brigade, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Space Command, and the U.S. Navy, all took part.

Chaired by U.S. Space Force Maj. Gen. DeAnna Burt, Commander, Combined Force Space Component Command, USSPACECOM, the summit addressed common commercial issues and helped prepare the SATCOM community for wartime events.

Army Capt. Russell Creger, a current operations officer with the Satellite Operations Brigade, said the summit revolved around three conversations: commercial SATCOM, standardizing multiband terminals, and addressing SPACECOM’s Unified Command Plan to provide global SATCOM operations management.

“The key takeaway was giving the SATCOM community the resources required to get in touch if someone is having issues,” Creger said. “We want to streamline the process to better support wartime operations if military SATCOM fails – like say there’s not enough bandwidth. So how then do we leverage the commercial side of it?”

Army Lt. Col. James D. Jackson, Satellite Operations Brigade operations officer, said most of the SATCOM community participated in the summit to develop responses to the issues under discussion.

“It (the summit) included introductory briefs to baseline knowledge for the attendees to develop recommendations for improving processes and organizational structure,” Jackson said. “It focused on improving delivery and operational use of commercial SATCOM to the joint force.”

A follow-on summit is scheduled for September to evaluate the responses developed.