JULY 23, 2026 — Military planners, operators and subject matter experts from across the joint force joined Space Training and Readiness Command’s wargaming experts recently to improve how they defend the space domain.
Chalkydri IV, a battle management wargame, linked Space Delta 10 and its 10th Force Development Squadron with players from across the War Department for more than a week in late June and early July at the Aerospace Corporation in Colorado Springs.
Participants from 18 organizations, including the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, used the wargame to evaluate two battle management courses of action and provide senior Space Force leaders with data to help shape the service’s future approach to battle management.
Chalkydri IV marks the latest milestone in a multi-year campaign launched after the chief of space operations directed the development and validation of a Space Force battle management concept in September 2024. Since then, Delta 10 has led four iterations of the Chalkydri wargame series, progressively refining potential approaches through data-driven analysis. Earlier events evaluated five initial concepts before narrowing the effort to the two courses of action explored during this year’s wargame.
“For this fourth wargame, we were fortunate to have joint force experts from the Army and Air Force join as players and advisors,” said Col. Shannon DaSilva, former commander of Delta 10. “The lessons and experience they brought alongside the sharp Guardian participants from various Combat Forces Command units leveled up both the quantitative and qualitative outputs we collected to inform future force design.”
The inclusion of joint participants provided additional operational perspectives and reinforced the importance of integrating expertise from across the DOW as the Space Force continues developing concepts for future conflict.
As the space domain grows increasingly contested, battle management requires commanders to rapidly assess changing conditions, coordinate forces and make informed decisions across multiple missions. The Chalkydri series provides a venue to test ideas, challenge assumptions and collect objective data before future concepts are implemented operationally.
Rather than focusing on a single scenario, the wargame campaign is designed to evaluate how different approaches perform across complex operational problems. The results help identify strengths, expose gaps and inform recommendations for future doctrine, organization and force development.
The data collected during Chalkydri IV will support ongoing analysis by Delta 10, helping senior leaders refine how the Space Force plans, coordinates and executes battle management in support of joint operations.
“We’re in the business of providing decision-quality wargaming data to inform senior leader decisions on how our nation will fight and win wars,” Lt. Col. Amber Dawson, 10th FDS commander, said. “Chalkydri IV puts that skillset to the task of examining alternative concepts for space battle management.”
As the fourth installment in the Chalkydri series, the event represents another step toward building a battle management framework that is adaptable, informed by operational analysis and designed to meet the demands of future conflict in the space domain.
Story by Brandon Kalloo Sanes
Space Training and Readiness Command