Conveners
TDM1 - Meeting Defence Needs: Tailoring Space Weather Services for Military Operations
- Judith de Patoul
- Lisa Rosenqvist (Swedish Defence Research Agency)
- Michaela Brchnelova (Nederlandse Defensie Academie)
- Steven Dewitte (ROB)
Description
As military operations increasingly depend on GNSS, satellite communications, HF radio, and surveillance assets, understanding and mitigating the impact of space weather has become essential for operational readiness. Especially the arctic regions have now become interesting as a result of the opening of new shipping routes and the security question of Greenland, and these are the regions most susceptible to space weather effects. However, most space weather services today are designed with civil users in mind, and there is a growing gap between scientific outputs and actionable military needs.
This panel forum will explore the specific requirements of the defense community, from NATO partners to national armed forces, for tailored space weather support. It will highlight existing practices (e.g., UK Met Office, USAF, JMG/STCE collaboration), identify operational needs in areas such as forecasting, system vulnerability assessment, and training, and discuss how to move from physical space environment monitoring to mission-relevant, impact-oriented products.
Key questions include:
- What are the most critical defense use cases affected by space weather?
- How can we translate forecasts into platform-specific operational risks?
- What infrastructure and standards are required to support autonomous, secure defense operations under space weather influence?
- What are the current gaps in space weather services as perceived by defence users?
The session encourages active participation to clarify shared needs, foster civil-military cooperation, and help shape future space weather services that are operationally relevant to defense actors.
