A small group of space operators played a big role across all warfighting domains in an exercise involving some 18,000 troops from the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) during Freedom Shield 26.
The space component of the 11-day March exercise was spearheaded by the S7 training and development directorate of U.S. Space Forces-Korea (SPACEFOR-KOR), a subordinate unit of U.S. Space Forces-Indo Pacific (SPACEFOR-INDOPAC). The four-member S-7 directorate scales up to more than a dozen personnel during Freedom Shield 26, boosted by experts from space mission areas and liaisons from the ROK Air Force’s Space Operations Group.
They form a 24-hour operation known as the Exercise Control Group (ECG), executing and managing the exercise’s space scenarios, the U.S. Air Force said in a report at its website. Among the tested capabilities were missile warning, space domain awareness and overcoming degraded space-enabled effects.
To develop scenarios and simulated data, the S7 directorate works with the Pacific Air Simulation Center at Osan Air Base, Korea; the Korean Battle Simulation Center at Camp Humphreys, Korea; and simulation centers in the U.S. Much of the group’s operations take place at the Pacific Air Simulation Center, where the space-focused ECG worked alongside its air component counterparts to integrate Freedom Shield 26 space operations.
“Our role here is a lot of coordination between the different simulation centers to make the space scenario work for these exercises as realistically as possible,” said Space Force 1st Lt. Roman Ocampo, SPACEFOR-KOR chief of exercise development.
In addition to its work with the ROK Space Operations Group, SPACEFOR-KOR leveraged commercial space assets during Freedom Shield 26 through the Joint Commercial Operations Center. The center is part of the Space Force’s Pacific cell, one of three global cells that use commercially available data to improve round-the-clock space domain awareness.
Freedom Shield 26 was the second iteration of a recurring spring exercise to ensure preparedness among military forces on the Korean Peninsula. A collaboration between the U.S. and ROK, the exercise involves United Nations Command, the 18-nation multinational force established in 1950 to support the ROK during the Korean War; the U.S.-led Combined Forces Command (CFC), established in 1957 and the heart of the ROK-U.S. military alliance; and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), the command responsible for training and supporting these combined efforts.
“Freedom Shield 26 demonstrates the strength of our alliance and our ability to train, build readiness, and operate seamlessly as one force,” said U.S. Army Gen. Xavier T. Brunson, who commands all three combined efforts. “No other alliance trains as we do from competition, to crisis, to conflict all with an eye to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.”
Freedom Shield 26 consisted of 22 field exercises — fewer than half the number carried out during the first Freedom Shield — as ROK leaders spread military training throughout the year to improve relations with adversary North Korea, according to The Korea Herald news website. The drills also come as the U.S. and ROK are taking steps to turn over wartime control of the CFC to the host nation. Still, North Korea denounced Freedom Shield 26 as a “war rehearsal” and carried out weapons testing while it was underway.
As the role of SPACEFOR-KOR grows in Freedom Shield, the command is expanding the space component of the exercise. For the S7 team, that means expanding the complexity, realism and scope of the space fight so combined forces are better prepared for real-world operations on the Korean Peninsula. The space domain is not just represented, according to the Air Force; It is fully integrated into the fight.
SPACEFOR-KOR is one of two subordinate Space Force units in SPACEFOR-INDOPAC. The other is U.S. Space Forces-Japan. In addition, the service has set up components in five other U.S. combatant commands: Space Command, Central Command, Northern Command, Southern Command; and a combined component for European Command and Africa Command.
When SPACEFOR-KOR was established in December 2022, Lt. Col. Joshua McCullion, its first commander, noted the challenge the new unit faces: “Just 48 miles north of us exists an existential threat — a threat that we must be prepared to deter, defend against, and, if required, defeat.”