DEFENSE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OFFICE

Within the Florida Space Institute, the Defense Science and Technology Office (DSTO) serves as the focal point for national security, national defense, and intelligence community related research, development, test, evaluation, and operational projects and programs. DSTO continues the tradition of excellence in all phases from research to operations that began in 1990 with the creation of the Space Education and Research Center (SERC). SERC was located with the launch programs under the U.S. Air Force at the then Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (now the U.S. Space Force at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). SERC became FSI in 1996 as part of the promotion of the center to a State University System of Florida type one institute. FSI continued to remain close to what is now the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center until 2012 when it was relocated to the Central Florida Research Park.

Since the inception of FSI, there have been dramatic changes to the space and technology landscape in Florida and across the United States.  This is especially true as it relates to MILSPACE activities by the DoD and the IC. Within Florida, these changes have included, but are not limited to: 

• The 2019 establishment of the U.S. Space Force (USSF) under the Department of the Air Force as the nation’s sixth military service
• Transfer of Patrick AFB, Cape Canaveral AFS, Malabar Annex, and the Jonathan Dickinson Missile Tracking Annex to the USSF in 2020 with redesignation of the larger two installations as Patrick SFB and Cape Canaveral SFS
• The 2023 selection of Patrick SFB for the permanent headquarters of the Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) and relocation from its initial provisional location at Peterson SFB, Colorado
• Relocation of STARCOM’s Delta 10 (DEL 10) from the U.S. Air Force Academy to Cape Canaveral SFS alongside the Space Systems Command (SSC) Space Launch Delta 45 (SLD 45)
• Establishment of a STARCOM element within the TEAM ORLANDO military modeling, simulation and training (MS&T) activities in the Central Florida Research Park adjacent to Naval Support Activity Orlando 
• Transfer of Eglin AFB Site C-6, its 20th Space Surveillance Squadron (20 SPSS), and its AN/FPS-85 phased array radar to Mission Delta 2 (MD2) of the USSF’s Space Operations Command (SpOC) 
• Establishment of U.S. Space Forces Central (SPACECENT), a USSF component command for U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM), collocated with Headquarters USCENTCOM at MacDill AFB
• The 2025 announcement by U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) at MacDill AFB that USSOCOM intends to establish a USSF component command for special operations 
• Increased MILSPACE activities that will rely on launch support from Cape Canaveral SFS and/or the various overland and offshore launch, test, and training ranges from the Atlantic to the Gulf

This increased MILSPACE footprint across Florida further drove the need to expand FSI’s scope to include space-related activities in the national defense realm and the creation of the Defense Science and Technology Office.