NORAD, USNORTHCOM commander visits SMDC

Photo By Jason Cutshaw | Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, commanding general, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and Rick De Fatta, deputy to the commanding general, walk with Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, at SMDC’s Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, headquarters, Mar. 28. This was Guillot’s first visit to the command where he also toured the Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence’s Joint Air Defense Operations Center – Developmental Laboratory, which provides a live-test environment for the battle management systems employed by National Capital Region Integrated Air Defense System. (U.S. Army photo by Jason B. Cutshaw)  

REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, UNITED STATES

04.01.2024

Story by Jason Cutshaw 

U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – Members of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command welcomed the Department of Defense’s combatant commander responsible for defending the United States during his trip to Redstone Arsenal, March 28.

Gen. Gregory Guillot, who assumed command of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command on Feb. 5 made his first official visit to USASMDC to see firsthand how it supports the combatant command’s homeland defense mission.

“The strategic environment is extraordinarily complex, with competitors seeking to diminish our military advantage,” Guillot said. “The missile defense capability provided by SMDC and the 100th Missile Defense Brigade is foundational to the 24/7, no-fail homeland defense mission in two ways – by providing domain awareness of potential threats and by ensuring defeat of rogue nations’ intercontinental ballistic missile threats to North America. We maintain our advantage through these options.”

Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey, USASMDC commanding general, said this visit highlights Guillot’s interest in the capabilities USASMDC, as NORAD and USNORTHCOM’s Army Service Component Command for ground-based midcourse defense, provides in support of his warfighting needs.

“SMDC’s space and missile defense assets play a critical role in USNORTHCOM’s mission to defend the United States from missile threats,” Gainey said. “Our 100th Missile Defense Brigade is critical to defending the nation and executing the ground-based midcourse defense mission.”

Guillot said when he took command, he established three priorities for NORAD and USNORTHCOM: defend the homeland, strengthen the network and advance the workforce.

“It’s clear from my visit to SMDC how you help defend the homeland every day and that you are important mission partners who expand the network of relationships NORAD and USNORTHCOM use to defend North America,” Guillot said.

During the visit, Guillot received an overview of USASMDC’s unique mission sets and visited the Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence’s Joint Air Defense Operations Center – Developmental Laboratory, which provides a live-test environment for the battle management systems employed by National Capital Region Integrated Air Defense System.

“I am greatly encouraged by the agile development of capabilities to support the integrated air defense mission,” Guillot said. “I have seen in other theaters the benefit of accelerating the process from experimentation to fielding capabilities, and I look forward to applying this approach to a variety of homeland defense challenges to improve the ways NORAD and USNORTHCOM detect, track, and defeat threats ranging from long-range ballistic missiles to small unmanned aerial systems.”

David Cox, USASMDC Missile Defense Prototyping and Experimentation Branch chief, said the command provides integration support to the respective program offices, operation of the communications infrastructure for the NCR IADS Task Force, and contract management of the vendors providing maintenance support of all the various ground-based air defense systems.

“The JADOC-D Lab is used by multiple program offices to ensure all the various Army and Air Force systems are effectively integrated to provide confidence to the decision makers performing the air defense mission that all objects in the air picture are accurately represented in each of the different service systems,” Cox said.

Gainey said team members across the command work together to support missile defense.

“Our goal is to ensure we always remain vigilant in our defense of the nation and both our USNORTHCOM and SMDC team members maintain a keen awareness of our no-fail defense of the homeland missions,” Gainey added.

Guillot called homeland defense a mission of honor, and said he was proud to have USASMDC as an operational partner in that mission.

“Thank you for serving our nation,” Guillot said. “Through your expertise, professionalism, and dedication, SMDC personnel make it possible to deter and defeat threats to North America.

“I also ask each of you to consider how you can make the team better, to make it possible for our personnel to succeed and to attract talent to our important work,” he added. “The success of our organizations comes from you.”

• Date Taken: 04.01.2024
• Date Posted: 04.01.2024 14:05
• Story ID: 467496
• Location: REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, US