And delays caused by the novel coronavirus also ensured the first launch of NASA’s Artemis program will not happen until late 2021. ![]() Space Force delayed a GPS satellite launch to no earlier than June 30 in order to minimize personnel from COVID-19 exposure. intelligence payloads from its launch complex in New Zealand. In March, California-based Rocket Lab postponed the launch of three U.S. has delayed several launches due to COVID-19. soil to the International Space Station, the U.S. Despite the recent success of the SpaceX launch from U.S. ![]() However, China is launching capabilities into space at a pace that is becoming increasingly difficult for the U.S. Space Command, the Defense Department’s 11th combatant command, recently finalized its campaign plan with a new mission statement emphasizing “defending against and deterring threats.” The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act established the United States Space Force as the sixth independent branch of the military to meet the threat posed to American space-based assets by potential enemies. to take measures to protect itself against what Secretary of Defense Mark Esper accurately labeled the weaponization of space. It is also working on radio frequency-jamming technologies capable of degrading or denying satellite communications and global navigation satellite systems like GPS.Ĭhina’s counter-space efforts have forced the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assesses could also function as a weapon.īecause destruction of assets using anti-satellite technology is easily attributable, China is also pursuing a broad range of nondestructive directed-energy and electronic warfare weapons like lasers for blinding commercial and military imaging satellites. The SC-19 is now assessed operational and capable of targeting low-Earth orbit satellites.Ĭhina also fielded sophisticated on-orbit capabilities, such as satellites with robotic arm technology for inspection and repair, which the U.S. In 2018, the People’s Liberation Army formed military units that began initial operational training with anti-satellite missiles. China launched its first successful ground-based direct ascent anti-satellite missile, the SC-19, in 2007, and spent the last decade improving follow-on versions. That takes a lot of time and energy and a different set of tools … All of that is critical to turning an arsenal into a military force.Evidence suggests China could be developing up to three different anti-satellite systems. The other pieces are “the tactics, the training, the experience, the ability to work hand in glove with allies and partners. “If we think we can just buy the best arsenal, we are only going to have half of the equation met,” said Saltzman. With these challenges in mind, the Space Force is looking to deploy newer types of satellites but also train operators for the contested space environment, he said. This has to be the “starting point of a discussion that we need to build a new type of space capabilities with resiliency baked in from the beginning.” “If you can just take out a few satellites and radically degrade the capabilities, you don’t have a resilient architecture,” Saltzman added. Before China in 2007 demonstrated an anti-satellite weapon, the thinking in the Pentagon was to make satellites as capable as possible to minimize the number that needed to be launched, Saltzman explained.Īfter China’s ASAT test, it became clear that relying on a small number of big-ticket satellites “was not inherently resilient,” he said. The satellites the United States military has on orbit today are high-performing machines and would be difficult to replace if an enemy took one down. ![]() The Space Force is working on that, he said, but it will take years. 2, said a top priority for the Department of Defense is “to protect our capabilities in space.” Saltzman, who assumed command of the Space Force Nov. Whether it’s satellite-based communications, imagery, early warning of missile launches, or positioning navigation and timing, “the capability that space offers has demonstrated its value so much so that both sides are engaged in trying to counter those capabilities and deny those advantages to the opponent,” he said. Saltzman’s two main takeaways from the conflict in Ukraine: the value of space “has been proven out,” and space is “clearly a contested domain.” “I think this modern war that we’re seeing play out in Ukraine is just indicative of what we can expect in the future,” Saltzman said during a panel session at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations of the U.S. WASHINGTON - The war in Ukraine has put on display military forces’ growing reliance on satellites and has created incentives to disrupt opponents’ access to space systems, Gen.
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