380th Space Control Squadron hosts ceremony for Bounty Hunter 2.0 training system

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Frank Casciotta
  • 310th Space Wing Public Affairs

The 380th Space Control Squadron held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new $4.7 million Bounty Hunter 2.0 training system at Peterson Air Force Base, 1 May.

It was procured through the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Bounty Hunter Program Management office by Air Force Reserve Command Headquarters and funded through the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account. The new system’s capabilities is expected to increase the squadron’s training capacity by 92%.

The Bounty Hunter 2.0 system is a training platform centered on electromagnetic spectrum awareness, satellite communications signal monitoring, signal characterization, electromagnetic interference detection and geolocation.

“Today’s event represents the Air Force Reserve’s commitment to keep our Airmen and Guardians lethal by providing critical training resources,” said Col. Agustin Carrero, the 710th Operations Group commander who also presided over the ceremony. “It is the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication going as far back as 2018.”

Carrero said the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account is essential for the Air Force Reserve to meet national defense requirements, enables the Reserve to deploy as part of the Total Force and outpace emerging threats.

“The procurement and delivery of this system required a significant amount of trust and cooperation across multiple staff agencies within Air Force Reserve Command Headquarters, U.S. Space Force and the Bounty Hunter Program Management Office at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and unit levels,” he said “We appreciate the effort of the personnel and agencies involved. Their strong partnership was essential in making this additional capability a reality for our Total Force team.”

Employment of the new system directly supports multiple mission and strategic priorities across Air Force Reserve Command and Space Operations Command by ensuring the squadron has combat-ready forces and accelerating the squadron’s readiness through sophisticated training.

“Before today, the 380th Space Control Squadron made a herculean effort to support a growing operations and maintenance crew force with the limited capacity of a single training system,” said Carrero. “These heroes stepped up to the challenge by executing training operations, often around the clock, to meet the demands of continuous operational deployments. This new system will enable development of cutting-edge tactics, techniques and procedures to outpace our adversaries.  The fielding of this capability comes at a critical time as these Airmen and Guardians prepare to deliver combat-ready Space Electronic Warfare forces and combat-relevant space effects.”

The 380th SPCS is part of the 310th Space Wing and is the Reserve Associate Unit to the 16th Space Control Squadron. Together, they jointly conduct defensive space electronic warfare operations in the execution of an emerging, globally-deployed mission to provide electromagnetic spectrum awareness and monitor satellite communication links to characterize and geolocate sources of electromagnetic interference or other signals of interest for prosecution as targets or other higher authority action in support of Joint All-Domain operations.