Understanding, Managing, and Reporting U.S. Space Force Readiness

As a branch of the U.S. armed services, the U.S. Space Force (USSF) must understand, manage, and report its readiness. The readiness-related systems of the U.S. Department of Defense, like many systems that support and govern the USSF, were not designed to meet the unique demands of the military space community and characteristics of operations in and through outer space. The newly independent USSF has an opportunity to create systems that work better meet their needs. The authors of this report have created a readiness framework for the USSF and a guide on how to implement it. Starting with a "blank slate" mandate and a review of the readiness practice of the other services, the authors studied the current readiness system for the USSF and considered the unique needs of the military space community. They found that the current readiness reporting system does not address the range of USSF needs and has failed to objectively report the readiness of the space forces. They recommend a readiness framework that measures the USSF's ability to keep pace with adversary threats. It proposes three distinct "views" of readiness: (1) given today's resources, (2) against the near-peer threat, and (3) progress in transforming to meet the near-peer threat.