Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Space literacy must also be embedded across Defence if multi-domain integration is to succeed.
Recommendation
Space literacy must also be embedded across Defence if multi-domain integration is to succeed. As well as establishing a Space Academy for defence space specialists, the MoD must ensure that wider professional military education comprehensively covers the role played by space in modern warfare. In its response to this report the Department should update us on its progress towards establishing a Space Academy and should set out target dates for the inclusion of space education on staff courses and across the Defence Academy curriculum. (Paragraph 45) Threats and Hazards
Government Response Summary
The government states that foundation space training is already available through the Defence Learning Environment and other courses. They are refining the UK Space Academy training requirements prior to engaging for partnering opportunities, with formal tendering towards the end of 2022.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
A skilled and trained space workforce is fundamental to the delivery of Defence’s space ambition, promoting the domain as an attractive area of interest, while offering a range of opportunities to Whole Force personnel. Given the imperative to swiftly set the conditions for future space education and training across Defence, UK Space Command commissioned a detailed Training Needs Analysis (TNA) in July 2021, which concluded in March 2022, with course redesign already underway at the foundational, practitioner and expert levels. Foundation space training is already readily available across Defence through the Defence Learning Environment, where practitioner and expert courses are also well-established and available to all MOD personnel through the Air and Space Warfare School. To address specific training gaps identified within the TNA, while also standardising generic space education, a new foundational course will be integrated across all Defence entry-level training next year. Additionally, an Executive Space Operations Course (ESOC) aimed at more senior commanders and civil servants has also been rapidly developed and piloted, with the first course delivered in early December 2022. The TNA also recommended three new courses to address training shortfalls across the space enterprise, which will form an integral element of the iterative course design work in financial year 2023/2024. We are also continuing to explore options for career management over the short and longer term. UK Space Command continues to lead on the delivery of the UK Space Academy that will build on already established Air and Space Warfare School courses, with the aim to constitute a Centre of Excellence for Space training across the Whole Force. As noted above, we are also exploring the potential to extend this across government and even internationally in the longer term. This will provide a tangible opportunity to facilitate space education and skills training alongside industry and academic partners, thereby nurturing and developing a career pathway in Defence space. It will also enable space training and education not currently facilitated in the UK and see the growth of new space-related courseware, in addition to hosting extant UK Defence space courses. Following engagement with academia and industry to deepen Defence’s understanding of UK-wide partnering options, UK Space Command is now refining the UK Space Academy training requirements prior to engaging openly for potential partnering opportunities. A formal tendering process will be completed towards the end of 2022 with an Invitation to Tender initiated before the end of March 2023; extant space education and training courses will be transferred to the UK Space Academy once a partner has been selected and the Academy has been successfully established. Threats and Hazards