As the new space race kicks into high gear, top U.S. military officials believe Russia and China are moving toward weaponizing space. Top officials from the Space Force, Air Force, Navy, and Marines say they are “gearing up for space warfare." Space Force and Space Command are some of the newest combat groups in the U.S. military, and if these military officials are correct, they've been created just in time.
Last year, the U.S. and Britain accused Russia of launching and testing a new anti-satellite weapon, a claim Russia denied. U.S. defense officials said Russia launched a satellite that concealed a smaller “projectile” that was deployed in space and passed too close to a U.S. satellite. Similar incidents have been taking place in recent years leading up to the creation of the U.S. Space Force. As space military programs receive funding and drive developments they praise companies like SpaceX, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Blue Origin, and others.
General John Raymond, Chief of the U.S. Space Force, recently told Nikkei Asia that a “full spectrum of threats" from China needs to be responded to by the U.S. and its allies. General Raymon added that Russia was also participating in the weaponizing of space crafts. The Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall, speaking recently in the 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs agreed with the General. “China has moved aggressively to weaponize space, and that led to a change in the United States’ military strategy several years ago,' he said.
U.S. Military officials believe that the new space weapons, built or in development, by China and Russia include GPS and communication jammers, missiles systems, space-borne laser weapon systems, satellites equipped with robotic arms, and “kamikaze” satellites. “Our adversaries have been busy as well. Over the last two years, China and Russia have continued to build an entire spectrum of threats,” Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall said.
Deter Or Defeat Aggression With Space Combat Power
“Space is absolutely a place where the Navy is going to be fighting,” Rear Admiral Gene Price, vice commander of naval information forces said. The Navy is upgrading its missile defense system to boost space capabilities, considering counter-space weapons and future maritime space officers. Spacecom has “matured and grown into a warfighting force, prepared to address threats from competition to conflict in space,” Spacecom Commander Army General James Dickinson said.
Daily routine inside Space Force mission control in Colorado includes the operation of the Missile Warning System. The network of satellites scans the planet 24/7 for missile launches and nuclear detonations and sends instant early warnings. The system is one of the thousands of satellite systems that the military protects. There is no modern sector in the world today that does depend on space technology. UK, France, Australia, Japan, Germany, and others have elevated space in their military. The mission of the U.S. military is to “deter a conflict in space. And if deterrence fails, we will defeat aggression, through delivering space combat power for the joint and combined force,” General Raymond said.
Sources: Nikkei, U.S. Space Force