News

392d CTS completes its first USEUCOM-focused SPACE FLAG exercise

By Space Training and Readiness Command Public Affairs / Published December 19, 2022

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Members of the 392d Combat Training Squadron stand with SPACE FLAG 23-1 participants for a group photo at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Dec. 5, 2022. SPACE FLAG 23-1 ran from Dec. 5-16 and was the third Coalition SPACE FLAG and the 16th iteration of the SPACE FLAG exercise series. 23-1 was the first in the SPACE FLAG program to exercise combat tactics in a U.S. European Command scenario. (U.S. Space Force photo by Judi Tomich)

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U.S. Space Force 1st Lt. Colleen O’Hara, 6th Space Warning Squadron, collaborates with USSF Sgt. Benjamin Clanton, 7th Space Warning Squadron, on a new combat tactic that was developed during SPACE FLAG 23-1 at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Dec. 13, 2022. Both Guardians were recognized as two of the seven “Professional Performers”, which represent the top 10% of the training audience. (U.S. Space Force photo by Judi Tomich)

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U.S. Space Force 1st Lt. Laura Drapinski, 2d Space Warning Squadron, front, and Spc. 4 Ariana Gonzalez, 11th Space Warning Squadron, back, use a Space-Based Infrared System Simulator to monitor missile indications during simulated combat operations in United States European Command during SPACE FLAG 23-1 at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Dec. 13, 2022. SPACE FLAG 23-1 ran from Dec. 5-16 and was the third Coalition SPACE FLAG and the 16th iteration of the SPACE FLAG exercise series. 23-1 was the first in the SPACE FLAG program to exercise combat tactics in a USEUCOM scenario. (U.S. Space Force photo by Judi Tomich)

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Royal Australian Air Force Group Captain Darrell May, Director of Space Forces, reviews the orbital warfare mission plan at the 392d Combat Training Squadron Battle Lab during SPACE FLAG 23-1 at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Dec. 13, 2022. May served as a senior leader for the first vulnerability period in the exercise. During three two-day exercise vulnerability windows, where each included mission planning on the first day and then simulated combat operations on the second day, the training audience practiced their actual procedures to increase readiness to win in a European conflict. (U.S. Space Force photo by Judi Tomich)

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U.S. Space Force 1st Lt. Joseph Curiel, 10th Space Warning Squadron, middle, leverages his ground-based radar expertise to weaponeer Coalition forces for Space Domain Awareness during SPACE FLAG 23-1 at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Dec. 13, 2022. SPACE FLAG 23-1 ran from Dec. 5-16 and was the third Coalition SPACE FLAG and the 16th iteration of the SPACE FLAG exercise series. 23-1 was the first in the SPACE FLAG program to exercise combat tactics in a U.S. European Command scenario. (U.S. Space Force photo by Judi Tomich)

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U.S. Space Force Capt. Eries Thompson, 4th Space Operations Squadron, back, works with Senior Airman Melissa Garverick, 148th Space Operations Squadron, to ensure the free flow of simulated Military Satellite Communications to United States European Command during SPACE FLAG 23-1 at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Dec. 13, 2022. SPACE FLAG 23-1 ran from Dec. 5-16 and was the third Coalition SPACE FLAG and the 16th iteration of the SPACE FLAG exercise series. 23-1 was the first in the SPACE FLAG program to exercise combat tactics in a USEUCOM scenario. (U.S. Space Force photo by Judi Tomich)

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U.S. Space Force Spc. 4 Cesar Castro, 71st Intelligence Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Squadron, Detachment 4, disseminates intelligence assessments to drive simulated combat operations during SPACE FLAG 23-1 at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Dec. 13, 2022. SPACE FLAG 23-1 ran from Dec. 5-16 and was the third Coalition SPACE FLAG and the 16th iteration of the SPACE FLAG exercise series. 23-1 was the first in the SPACE FLAG program to exercise combat tactics in a U.S. European Command scenario. (U.S. Space Force photo by Judi Tomich)

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SCHRIEVER SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The 392d Combat Training Squadron under Delta 1, Space Training and Readiness Command, recently completed SPACE FLAG 23-1, which provided combat training to both U.S. and Coalition forces.

SPACE FLAG 23-1, which ran from Dec. 5-16, was the third Coalition SPACE FLAG and the 16th iteration of the SPACE FLAG exercise series. 23-1 was the first in the SPACE FLAG program to exercise combat tactics in a U.S. European Command scenario.

“Last February I asked my team to explore how we could amplify and expand Guardian training with USEUCOM problem sets,” said U.S. Space Force Lt. Col. Albert Harris, 392d CTS commander. “They responded brilliantly with an impressive combat training event that exercised theater plans and improved space warfighter readiness.”

During three two-day exercise vulnerability windows, where each included mission planning on the first day and then simulated combat operations on the second day, the training audience practiced their actual procedures to increase readiness to win in a European conflict.

During mission planning, the 392d CTS presented theater-specific problems along with strategic and operational guidance. The training audience then developed mission plans including possible courses of action based on realistic threats. After each planning period, the training audience briefed their plan to senior leaders who then provided guidance and direction. The training audience used senior leader feedback to revise and finalize their plan prior to execution the following day.

“Nowhere else can U.S. and Coalition forces train together with the specificity needed to improve space combat tactics,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Jason Schramm, Delta 1 commander and a senior leader during the exercise. “Winning in space underpins Coalition lethality in other warfighting domains, and I certainly saw that in the SPACE FLAG 23-1 scenario.

“I couldn’t have been more pleased to not only see Coalition forces participating in this SPACE FLAG, but to see them take on leadership roles on the planning teams where they taught and led our US forces in these incredibly complex space warfighting scenarios,” Schramm added. “We will fight in space as a Coalition, and these opportunities are invaluable to building the team that will fight together should the need arise.”

Other senior leaders during the exercise included U.S. Space Force Brig. Gen. Todd Moore, STARCOM deputy commander, U.S. Space Force Col. Phillip Verroco, Delta 5 commander, U.S. Space Force Col. Robert Schreiner, the National Reconnaissance Office’s Aerospace Data Facility Colorado commander, Royal Canadian Air Force Col. Catherine Marchetti, 7th Wing commander and Canadian Space Operations Center director, Royal Australian Air Force Group Captain Darrell May, Director of Space Forces, and Royal Air Force Group Captain Richard Niven, United Kingdom Space Command chief of staff.

SPACE FLAG 23-1 hosted a total of 165 participants. The training audience included 63 space warfighters from every mission Delta in the Space Operations Command. The National Reconnaissance Office leveraged SPACE FLAG to train nine members from their Space Force Element, and the U.S. Air Force Reserves sent three space warfighters to receive training.

Allied partners sent 26 space warfighters to SPACE FLAG with six coming from Australia, three from Canada, and 17 from the United Kingdom.

It took 33 members of the 392d CTS to put on the exercise with outstanding support from the 57th Space Aggressor Squadron, 527th Space Aggressor Squadron, the U.S. Air Force’s 318th Range Squadron, and the U.S. Air Force Reserves’ 26th Space Aggressor Squadron. STARCOM Delta 1’s 319th Combat Training Squadron provided a SPACE FLAG preparatory course to all mission planning leads of the training audience a week before the exercise.

“For the first time in SPACE FLAG, Cyber Guardians and Super Coders planned and executed simulated combat operations in real-time throughout the entirety of the exercise,” said U.S. Space Force Capt. Karl Pruhsmeier, 392d CTS and SPACE FLAG 23-1 exercise director. “Using a U.S. Air Force cyber range, the 527th Space Aggressor squadron was able to help us train multi-domain mission planning and execution, which exposed numerous opportunities to enhance mission assurance for orbital warfare, space domain awareness, space battle management, and other space warfighting functions.”

SPACE FLAG is the only space exercise in the Department of Defense accredited as a Joint National Training Capability. The next iteration of SPACE FLAG will occur in April 2023 where the 392d CTS plans to train U.S. and Coalition space warfighters again, marking the first time SPACE FLAG offers back-to-back Coalition combat training events.