The five-year-old U.S. Space Force is moving quickly to confront what is becoming a priority: anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) threats from foreign adversaries, including Russia and China.
The Space Force is building a space defense architecture to help modernize the Space Surveillance Network (SSN), which monitors objects and potential threats in space. This comes as the military struggles to fill gaps in space domain awareness.
Officials are also exploring myriad other ways to improve detection and defense, including launching hundreds of military satellites into low-Earth orbit, all of which would This is part of an effort to prepare the Space Force for a more conflict-prone environment by 2026. The US has warned that Russia is even developing a nuclear ASAT.
Charles Galbreath, senior fellow for space research at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said Americans “need to understand what is at stake if a conflict occurs and an adversary begins attacking our space capabilities.” Yes,” he said.
“It's not just going to impact the lives of military personnel; it's going to impact the lives of all of our people and people around the world,” he said. “There is so much about protecting the capabilities of space and the way of life that it enables.”
Lt. Gen. Philip Gallant, commander of the Space Systems Command, whose Space Force is focused on acquiring new weapons systems, said earlier this year that the service-wide effort is a “call to action.”
“There's a great sense of urgency to this idea. The enemy doesn't stop.” He said this at an event in May.. “We need to be prepared and make sure [defense systems] We have something we can use. ”
Experts say threats from space are extremely worrying because they could disrupt communications infrastructure and GPS, threatening travel, banking and other systems that people around the world rely on every day. I'm warning you.
And with about 48,000 objects in space, the global space economy is worth about $447 billion and growing.
The Space Force has released a strategy called “Competitive Endurance,” which lays out three principles. The first two focus on space domain awareness, and the third focuses on developing technologies to defend satellites and other endangered space architecture.
The first two principles are important and rely on the SSN, a global system of ground radar, optical sensors, and six high-orbit satellites. First developed in the late 1950s and gradually upgraded over the years, it is now a legacy system in need of modernization.
This month, the Space Force Approximately $100 million contract Anduril Industries is trying to meet a 2026 deadline for a more modernized space defense architecture and command-and-control network that the United States has struggled to replace at high cost for years.
Anduril, which has other contracts related to SSN construction, is deploying the Lattice software platform to replace aging communications systems with a more integrated mesh network and improve data sharing across sensor and radar networks. I would like to strengthen it.
This helps counter both ASAT and ballistic missile threats that SSN detects through its wide range of systems and data feeds.
“We need to bring all the information together and integrate it into a coherent picture, and this is where we need to make the really important upgrades,” said Mitchell Institute's Galbreath. “In my opinion, the systems that have been doing this for years are outdated.”
But there are also significant challenges. “Attempts to modernize the space surveillance network have suffered decades of delays and cost overruns,” said Bruce McClintock, director of the RAND Corporation's Space Initiatives.
“We believe we need to accelerate progress and move beyond the poor performance of our efforts to date,” he said. “Two steps to accelerate progress are increasing accountability and increasing Space Force resources.”
The Space Force is also asking the private industry to integrate commercial satellites with government systems. This would allow the United States to use commercial systems for military reasons if necessary.
Both the Department of Defense and the Space Force have outlined strategies to utilize commercial satellites, and partnerships with commercial companies are already in place under the Joint Commercial Operations Directorate, and under a new strategy announced this year. It is scheduled to be expanded significantly.
“The speed and innovation in the commercial sector is simply incredible, especially at this time in our history.” John Plumb saidIn April, he was appointed assistant secretary of defense for space policy. “Shouldn’t we try to take advantage of that?”
Other efforts include a push by the Space Development Agency, another acquisition arm of the Space Force, to deploy hundreds of small, inexpensive satellites into low-Earth orbit to strengthen military satellite networks. can be mentioned.
The small satellites will replace the current system of six large, high-orbit satellites in geostationary Earth orbit, which are expensive and easy targets.
But even in high orbit, the Space Force is developing a new system called Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) for deep space tracking. DARC, which uses ground radar, aims to open its first three sites in Western Australia by the end of this decade.
Patrick Binning, director of the National Security Space Mission Area at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, said his team is contributing to the research and development of the technology currently used at DARC, which is He said it is an important asset for monitoring the enemy.
Binning explained that space domain awareness is currently the most important aspect of defense on Earth.
“We can't even begin to protect ourselves if we don't know where our competitors are operating, how fast they're progressing, where they're going, so that's the first thing to do,” he said. Ayumu,” he said.
But the Space Force also acknowledges that it must be able to defend against orbital threats like ASAT.
ASAT was developed by four countries: the United States, Russia, India, and China. US suspends future ASAT tests.
China has emphasized space deterrence in strategic documents and has deployed capabilities to target satellites, including destruction vehicles, robots, cyber and electronic warfare techniques, and even laser systems for kinetic attacks. I am doing it.
In 2021, Russia conducted an ASAT test that shattered one of its satellites into approximately 1,500 pieces. And earlier this year, U.S. officials for the first time publicly warned that Russia was developing a nuclear ASAT.
Experts say diplomacy is likely to be the best option if a nuclear ASAT is established. The United Nations Security Council is trying to take action to curb Russia's potential nuclear weapons in space, but faces resistance from the Russian government, which has veto power. If Russia deployed such weapons, it would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits weapons of mass destruction in space.
Because space has long been considered a sacred space, existing options for protecting against such threats are limited, and concerns have only grown in the past decade. Currently, satellites have limited fuel and maneuverability to evade threats, and no defense systems are deployed to attack ASATs.
Still, ideas exist for space systems and satellites to be equipped with lasers to target potential threats, and for the United States to increase their propulsion power to ward off attacks.
The Space Force aims to counter these new threats, but it also faces an uphill battle in Washington.
The Space Force has said it needs more funding than its roughly $30 billion budget to meet pacing challenges and mission expansion.
That needs to change if the Space Force is to develop space defense systems, said Rand Corporation's McClintock.
“The Space Force lacks the funding to accomplish its assigned missions, which requires an increase in its budget,” he said. But “it's not going to happen overnight, so it's going to take some time before you can use that kind of functionality.”
