The Space Force’s Commercial Integration Cell has grown from 10 to 15 companies, a top general announced Wednesday.
In addition to the five companies, the cell is in the process of adding two additional companies, which is expected to bring the total membership to 17 by early 2025, Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, the commander of both US Space Forces–Space and the Combined Joint Force Space Component, said at a Mitchell Institute event.
CIC 101: The Commercial Integration Cell allows commercial partners who already have contracts with the Defense Department to easily share information with the military—and with each other—at a classified level, including participating in exercises and operations planning.
The flow of information goes both ways: Companies, which have all signed NDAs to prevent them using another firm’s info to make a profit, can call the Combined Space Operations Center to share information. DoD can also quickly share info with companies, such as if a spy sat may be lingering close to one of their assets.
“At the beginning of the Ukraine invasion, Russia did a cyber attack on a commercial company. That commercial company was a member of the CIC,” Scheiss said. “They provided info to us, so we could provide info to other companies.”
Who’s who: The new CIC partners include BlackSky, Kratos, LeoLabs, ICEYE and Telesat, Breaking Defense reported. The firms still in the process of joining are HawkEye 360 and ExoAnalytic.
Veteran partners include Eutelsat, Hughes, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Iridium, Maxar, SES, SpaceX, Viasat, and XTAR, according to a fact sheet.
New areas: When the cell was established as a pilot program in 2015, most of the companies involved were commercial satellite communications firms. But today, the group of 15 companies includes industries from imaging to space domain awareness to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, Scheiss said.
What’s next: Schiess said there is no limit on how many companies can join the CIC, adding that the office may have to change how it manages connecting with all the members as the list grows.
“Seventeen is not the end number,” he said.
