Could this wargame shape the future of the Space Force?

Lessons learned from the Space Force’s Schriever Wargame, which will wrap up Thursday, could shape the service’s future capabilities.

The two-week event, held at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, gathered more than 350 participants from U.S. industry and allied militaries to consider what nascent technologies might be needed to operate in space 10 years from now, with a particular focus on the Indo-Pacific.

For the first time, the wargame identified five notional technology concepts that might be needed in the future and considered questions around how to collaboratively fund and develop them, Space Delta 10 Commander Col. Shannon DaSilva told reporters during a media briefing Monday.

DaSilva declined to provide details on the capabilities, noting that some nations’ classification requirements limited what she could share, but said the missions included space domain awareness, communication and collaboration tools that don’t exist today.

“The idea was to explore what might be in the realm of the possible for future investment discussions and integration with our partners,” she said.

The Space Force is in the midst of a yearslong process to define what it calls an objective force design that lays out what missions and capabilities it will need in the next 10 to 15 years. This year’s Schriever Wargame will help inform that work for the U.S., including how it could partner with allies who might be positioned to provide certain capabilities. It will also provide insight into decisions about system interoperability as well as policies and acquisition approaches.

At the end of the exercise, DaSilva said, the team will publish an evaluation report that it will provide to its allies, which will describe lessons learned and ask for similar input from those partners.

“That will be the first time that we’ve published a report like that,” she said. “We’re just trying to codify our wargame process better for the service as we move forward.”

DaSilva noted that the Space Force is also taking steps to make the Schriever Wargame, which is in its 25th year, less U.S.-centric. For example, while the game’s objectives are typically set by the U.S. Space Force’s Chief of Space Operations, the service plans to have all participating nations help establish goals and scenarios for the event by 2027.

“Our intent is that all the nations will jointly set the objectives for the wargame, and that we will be testing operational concepts that are more internationally focused,” she said.

DaSilva noted that the service may also consider holding future wargames in other countries, though that could prove difficult since much of the gaming infrastructure it uses is based in the U.S.