Space weather for the DoD Warfighter: Current operations and planned improvements

The Space Weather Operations Center (Space WOC) at the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) is the DoD warfighter's source for operational space weather support. The Space WOC uses real-time space weather observations and model output to obtain the situational awareness necessary to create tailored space weather products for the warfighter. AFWA personnel located within space weather programs and technology branches are charged with obtaining and infusing operations with the latest in space weather analysis and forecast capability. This presentation will present an overview of current space weather support structure with specific examples of warfighter support success stories. In addition it will demonstrate how planning, science, and operations personnel are working together to take space weather support across a new threshold, namely, the integration of the Global Assimilative Ionospheric Measurements (GAIM) model in 2006. With GAIM, DoD space weather support will begin the journey of moving from climatology-based modeling to data assimilative-based modeling.