Emmi Yonekura

As a branch of the U. S. military, the U. S. Space Force (USSF) must understand, manage, and report its readiness. The readiness systems of the U. S. Department of Defense were not designed to meet the unique demands of the military space community. The USSF has an opportunity to create systems that work better given the characteristics of operations in outer space. The authors of this report have created a readiness framework for the USSF.

The Department of the Air Force wants to invest in advanced training technologies--such as augmented and virtual reality, gaming, and synthetic training environments--to maintain an asymmetric advantage over competitors. In this report, the authors construct a framework for training technology transfer and lay out potential barriers and enablers associated with each step. They also examine six use cases from across the U. S. Department of Defense.

This report identifies promising advanced training-technology investments and steps that the U. S. Department of the Air Force can take to track and integrate them. The authors assess the technology landscape using a quantitative modeling approach, stakeholder perspectives on these technologies and developmental priorities, and an expert panel's analysis of the maturity, benefits, applicability, and adoption barriers for a subset of technologies.

Amid increasing concerns about the current readiness assessment system, the U. S. Air Force is evolving its training infrastructure to adapt for operations in contested and denied environments, an increased pace of warfare, and the potential loss of superiority across multiple domains. The authors explore how addressing readiness assessment gaps can help inform related decisionmaking.

Climate-driven natural hazards will continue to affect Department of the Air Force (DAF) installations and missions for the foreseeable future. There is a need for the DAF to consider how installation infrastructure projects that improve hazard resilience may be prioritized. A new approach allows comparison of infrastructure projects based on their ability to improve installation resilience to climate-related hazards.

Climate hazards adversely affect the physical environment in which the U. S. Department of Defense must operate, thereby adversely affecting the performance of the joint force. Acknowledging that climate effects will likely become more severe as global temperatures rise, the authors of this report discuss findings from a study they conducted to develop links between climate and force readiness.

As the commercial space industry continues to grow in capability, capacity, and diversity, opportunities for the U. S. Space Force (USSF) and the U. S. Department of Defense to leverage commercial space capabilities are expanding. In this review of commercial space capabilities that could support the USSF's future space architecture and innovation ecosystem, the authors characterize capabilities and trends in the commercial market through mid-2020.