The Air Force is pushing efforts to train its pilots and crews in advanced scenarios where Global Positioning System guidance becomes denied or degraded. For Capt. David Levene, an F-15E weapon systems officer at the Air Force’s Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, Calif., this need drove him to create a software algorithm that calculates realistic GPS jamming effects and injects them into an aircraft’s navigation system, according to a Sept. 25 Edwards release. He calls it the Simulated Programmable AirCraft-Embedded JAMmer, or SPACE JAM. Levene is leading a team that began a series of eight planned flight tests with SPACE JAM on Sept. 10. “The testing we’re doing now has never been done before,” he said. “My hope for the future is that every military aircraft will include a navigation system that can be jammed for training purposes,” he said. Maj. Raven LeClair, another TPS student, and a member of Levene’s team, said it’s important for aircrews to train in realistic scenarios so that they can devise counter-tactics. “If all this saves one life, it’s worth it,” he said. (Edwards report by Rebecca Amber)
The White House announced its United States Space Priorities Framework in a document released concurrently with Vice President Kamala Harris' first National Space Council meeting. Listed among five U.S. priorities is to “defend its national security interests from the growing scope and scale of space and counterspace threats.”