The Space Force wants to leverage commercial space capabilities during wartime through a Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve. (Jumpeestudio)
By Sandra Erwin,
Published by Space News, 21 July 2025
The two-day exercise held in Colorado Springs marked the second in a series of Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR) wargames
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force conducted a wargame earlier this month to test how commercial space companies could augment military capabilities during orbital crises, part of a larger effort to create a space-age equivalent of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet that supports Pentagon airlift operations.
The two-day exercise, held at the Space Domain Awareness Tools, Applications and Processing Lab in Colorado Springs, marked the second in a series of Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR) wargames designed to refine how the military could leverage private sector space assets during conflicts or emergencies. The wargame focused on space domain awareness — the ability to track objects and threats in orbit — while a March exercise concentrated on satellite communications.
The Space Force last year awarded contracts collectively worth $1.1 million to four undisclosed space monitoring companies for CASR wargaming.
These exercises reflect Pentagon concerns about vulnerabilities in space, where both military and commercial satellites face risks from debris, cyberattacks and other potential hostile actions by adversaries like China and Russia.
Testing crisis response
During the recent wargame, participants used real-world data from the 2024 breakup of Intelsat 33e, a communications satellite that created at least 20 pieces of debris in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above Earth. The scenario tested how CASR contracts might be activated to track such events and coordinate responses when satellites face destruction from debris impacts or intentional actions.
The exercise was intended to identify the challenges of rapidly mobilizing commercial space assets. Unlike peacetime contracts with predictable deliverables and timelines, wartime or crisis scenarios create sudden surges in demand for satellite services, forcing decisions about capacity allocation, security protocols and compensation.
“How do we do this? What is this going to cost? When you look at what it’s going to mean for all of us, this includes things like fees for services,” Barbara Golf, executive agent for space domain awareness at the Space Combat Power Program Executive Office, said in a news release July 17.
“How much sensor capacity would we need to activate in a hazard scenario? What are the gradations that I need to have already pre-priced for buying?” she asked. “What are the conditions? Is this prioritized support? Is this exclusive support? For exclusive support, does that mean I buy your company? What does this entail? What are you willing to do?”
Legal and policy hurdles
The wargame underscored that technical capabilities may be less challenging than regulatory and contractual frameworks needed to implement CASR agreements.
“The longest pole is going to be all of the legal and policy hurdles that you have to jump through to get an international site set up,” said Lt. Col. Brandon Galindo, CASR division chief at Space Systems Command, referring to establishing sensor networks to monitor orbital activities across multiple countries.
The Space Force is trying to address questions about when and how to trigger commercial asset activation, what constitutes a national security emergency requiring CASR deployment, and how to protect both classified information and proprietary commercial data during joint operations.
TheSpace Systems Command said it aims to establish “Tier 1” CASR capabilities by 2026, with basic contract provisions in place for surge support during crises. Full CASR activation would represent a “Tier 2” scenario reserved for major conflicts or emergencies.
CASR funding
For the first time, the Space Force requested baseline funding for CASR in its fiscal year 2026 budget, proposing $7.7 million for operating costs. While budget documents show $23.6 million allocated to CASR, officials noted that $15.9 million was erroneously programmed into the initiative and is actually intended for a different program to develop a commercially derived version of GPS.
The $7.7 million, according to budget documents, “supports the initial establishment and execution of the CASR program and activities to include contractual integration of commercial providers into CASR framework; threat sharing; wargaming; exercises; readiness and inspection program of CASR companies.”
See: Original Article
