Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, commander of Space Forces-Space and the Combined Joint Force Space Component, said five companies have been added to the Commercial Integration Cell, or CIC, and two more mission partners are expected to get on board by early 2025, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.
“We are continually trying to up our game in the commercial world,” Schiess said at an event Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Space Force told the publication that as of October, 15 commercial space operators are under CIC.
Ten of those 15 are legacy partners: Hughes, SpaceX, XTAR, Inmarsat, Viasat, Eutelsat, SES, Maxar, Iridium and Intelsat. The five new partners are BlackSky, Kratos, Leolabs, ICEYE and Telesat.
“Hawkeye 360 and Exoanalytic have agreed to join, and we look forward to welcoming them to the CIC in the future,” the spokesperson added.
What Is CIC?
According to a Space Force announcement, CIC facilitates technology and operational exchange between commercial partners and U.S. Space Command to quickly respond to space events and improve space domain awareness.
CIC partners have initially provided satellite communications and imagery. With the additional companies, mission areas will now include space domain awareness and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.