COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Data from real-world scenarios set the stage for U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command’s (SSC) Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR) Space Domain Awareness wargame. Wargames are strategy games designed to simulate real-world warfare scenarios to examine warfighting concepts and tactics, train officers in tactical and strategic decision-making and assess potential outcomes.
This wargame, the second in a series, took place July 8-9, 2025 at the Space Domain Awareness Tools, Applications and Processing Lab (SDA TAP Lab) in Colorado Springs. Participants included CASR SDA commercial partners, government participants, SDA subject matter experts, and SSC’s CASR team, including USSF Lt. Col. Timothy Trimailo, the new director for SSC’s Commercial Space Office (COMSO).
“The CASR SDA wargame built upon the progress we made following our first wargame in March, which focused on Commercial Satellite Communication,” said USSF Lt. Col. Brandon Galindo, CASR division chief at SSC. “We applied those lessons learned through the use of digital communication tools and basing our scenario design on real-world use cases.”
The wargame revealed several preparation requirements including the critical need for clear activation triggers, robust incentive structures for commercial partners, and enhanced information sharing processes. Major takeaways emphasized the importance of a diversified infrastructure to mitigate single points of failure and the necessity for comprehensive personnel and organizational readiness to quickly respond to crises.
“I’m incredibly proud of our team and everyone who contributed to deliver a successful event that will shape how we leverage Space Force’s commercial space strength to respond to crises and conflict,” Galindo said. “This wargame has set a new benchmark for future events, driving strategic improvements and operational readiness in the CASR program.”
CASR is a relatively new SSC strategic initiative designed to ensure access to commercial capabilities throughout the spectrum of conflict while maintaining security, reliability, and availability. The goal is to identify voluntary commercial partners and ensure interoperability through training, wargames, and exercises, while also crafting pre-negotiated space acquisition contracts with commercial space companies to provide surge capacity when needed. These services could include several Space Force mission areas, to include, but not limited to, satellite communications (SATCOM) and SDA.
The CASR SDA wargame featured three scenarios followed by a detailed “hot wash” to capture lessons learned and determine follow-up actions.
For example, using data from the 2024 Intelsat 33e breakup event, which involved a communications satellite breaking into at least 20 pieces, one scenario focused on space assets being eliminated in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and Low Earth orbit (LEO), driving an increase in capacity. Multiple breakups in different orbits can give officials an idea of what types of surge capacity needs might arise in both hazard and threat environments.
Barbara Golf, executive agent for SDA within the Space Combat Power Program Executive Office at SSC, opened the wargame by sharing the importance of defining thresholds for various scenarios, emphasizing the need to start with “what” and “why” before determining who will activate the process.
“We’re going to go back and forth between what we are doing and why we are doing it,” Golf said. “Those are going to be our anchor points from these inputs. From these inputs, we want to be able to draft the set of H clauses and contract CLINs (a specific section within a contract that contains special space acquisition contract requirements, terms, and conditions) for us as a team to review and then price out.”
“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,” Golf said. “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?”
“What are the conditions?” Golf added. “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?”
“Do we have enough people to do this?” Golf continued. “Duration: how long do we support a CASR type catastrophe? Is this three months? Six months? A year? Is the situation actually so bad that it becomes a permanent-type state? In which case, that’s not a CASR problem, that’s a welcome-to-the-new-normal problem.”
The wargame was structured to rigorously evaluate the CASR framework and processes, revealing any critical gaps and challenges in rapidly scaling SDA capabilities during a major crisis.
Priority questions during the scenarios included terrestrial reconstruction, mitigating the loss of on-orbit assets, resilience, commercial intel and attribution, C2 (command and control) structure, cyber defense, and legal and policy hurdles.
“What are the hurdles that you’re seeing from a commercial perspective in legal and policy?” Galindo asked the commercial participants. “You all operate globally. Just last week I heard an anecdote that construction is going to be the shortest pole in the tent – 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.”
“CASR is moving so fast and the more we learn, the more we have to iterate and evolve what CASR means,” Galindo said. “One thing that has not changed is securing access to what we already use. That’s really what’s at the heart of what we’re trying to do. If we’re partnering with you during peacetime and we find ourselves in an existential conflict or crisis, we want to make sure we have everything in place to transition there seamlessly.”
By 2026, Galindo said SSC aims to have CASR Tier 1 stood up, with baseline, day-to-day operations and contract provisions in place for surge support. If CASR had to be fully activated in a crisis, that would be a Tier 2 scenario.
“There will be some level of priority that the government will hold for CASR members or exclusive rights to capabilities,” Galindo said. “We need to find out what those trade-offs look like.”