The United States Space Force (USSF) was established nearly two years ago in December of 2019 and is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping Guardians to conduct global space operations that enhance the way our joint and coalition forces fight, while also offering decision makers military options to achieve national objectives. EXPANSIA’s work to deploy technology in faster and more agile ways has helped the DoD/USSF to move quickly and adapt to ever-evolving technological requirements, which is necessary to maintain and enhance the competitive edge of the DOD in space while adapting to new strategic challenges

We interviewed Jerome White, Vice President over Client Success at EXPANSIA. In addition to his work within the company, he supports the USSF Space Command and Control (Space C2)/Kobayashi Maru (KM) program under Space Systems Command (SSC). SSC’s mission is to pioneer, develop and deliver sustainable joint space warfighting capabilities to defend the nation and its allies and disrupt adversaries in the contested space domain. Space C2/KM supplies infrastructure and enterprise services, as well as develops mission applications to enable responsive, resilient operational-level Space C2 capabilities for space warfighters.

“Space is a vital and strategic US advantage that impacts our daily lives,” White said. “Aside from obvious military applications, it is central to critical industries and functions ranging from transportation, finance, communications, logistics, healthcare, infrastructure, and so on. From a daily and more personal perspective, space capabilities enable a lot of things we may take for granted: video conferencing, financial transactions (stock markets, credit card transactions, etc), cell phones, basic navigation, satellite TV/cable, and so much more. Space is inherent in a lot of our daily activities.”

The physical space environment itself is congested and contested, White explained. In order to support the functions and demand for services mentioned above, an ever increasing number of satellites are being launched of various sizes, functions, and capabilities, and to crowded orbital regimes, some with hidden intent. “All of these actors – allies, adversaries, civilian/commercial – are why we need a Space Force to protect and defend our strategic advantage and establish norms of behavior in space.”

With this in mind, it’s imperative for the USSF and US Space Command to meet this challenge. White’s role is focused on fostering collaboration between different organizations and teams, to promote communication and help define and prioritize competing requirements with an eye towards providing solutions and capabilities for space warfighters.

“The space domain is still relatively new,” White states, “and we don’t know what tomorrow’s technology will bring and what challenges we’ll face.” What EXPANSIA contributes to the mission is helping the DoD quickly adapt traditional strategies and implement new, agile ones. “For example, the traditional DoD requirements process is unable to effectively keep up with the pace of technological change and the ever changing warfighter requirements, and therefore unable to deliver warfighter capabilities when needed.” The programming and technology strategies, as well as the Agile lean implementation that EXPANSIA employs, helps the DoD better meet this challenge.

We asked White about his vision of EXPANSIA and the Space Force in the coming years. “Space will continue to quickly evolve,”” he said. “As a community, we’re going to be continually learning, growing, and adapting to new challenges, threats, and opportunities. I see EXPANSIA being a key enabler and leader in implementing these new strategies and deploying technology faster to the warfighter.”