Border security is national security, but the US border is larger than the Rio Grande, the Ocean Coast or the frontier of Canada. In today's world, protecting our borders requires us to ensure that America's interests in space are fully secured. To achieve that goal, you will require investments to build a balanced space force that allows investments to block invaders and beat them if necessary.
Whether they recognize it or not, all Americans have a stake in how the Space Force works and succeeds.
The prosperity of our country relies on the guaranteed use of space. Important utilities like financial transactions, water and electricity, built-in navigation in mobile phones, broadband internet on the go, and more important aspects of everyday life rely on satellites.
Our country also cannot have secure access to spaces or be free to be safe and secure there. The US and alliances rely on spaces such as communication, remote sensing, early detection of missile launches, and weapons guidance. Space is the ultimate highlands and stakes are immeasurable.
Today's US space forces were originally designed and had the resources to “protect and defend” these important spatial capabilities. In five years since its activation, the US Space Force Provides resilient satellite constellations It has been strengthened against attacks and has adopted cutting-edge technology from our defense industrial base. X-37 Spaceship, and was built Careful investment To avoid surprises from our enemies. These investments are rewarding, but the Chinese Communist Party has already adapted. The threat they pose is real.
I look at outer space for my living. My job with the US Space Force is to ensure that we avoid surprises, and that work becomes more difficult as the space becomes more crowded and hostile. Today, space is the realm of combat. Because our enemies did that. Chinese leader, Secretary Xi Jinping, has made space a priority, and his China's Pra Aerospace Force is actively implementing “confrontational training” that sends unmistakable signals.
Last year, for example, Chinese military practiced advanced tactical manipulation that brought satellites within a few meters of other Chinese satellites serving as targets. They repeated the operations on multiple targets simultaneously. In 2021, the SJ-21 “Orbit Debris Removal” vehicle adopted a non-cooperative Chinese satellite with no obstacles and dragged it into cemetery orbit. This is exactly the kind of technology needed to attack satellites, such as monitoring bad weather, providing permanent communications, and warning of missile launches. These close proximity operations with little transparency put conflicts at risk in increasingly crowded spatial environments.
These operations have been added to previously surrounded ground-based missiles and lasers that demonstrate high orbital capabilities and were designed to attack satellites. These developments cannot be ignored for many reasons. History offers one lesson. In the 1930s, Germany developed innovative blitz tactics and utilized cutting-edge technologies such as armored vehicles and fighter jets to infiltrate, overfly and abuse fixed fortresses. Imperial Japan has perfected the techniques to launch lightning raids across the Pacific Ocean. Today we see PLAs develop the skills needed to operate aggressively in the space domain.
Unless we evolve from our reactive “protect and defend” attitudes and build cosmic forces that can pilot and fight in space, American space use is at risk. While boundary fences can slow attackers down, history shows that defenders need their own maneuvering to stop attacking, counterattacks and fight back in the first place, and to fight against the enemy if necessary.
Peace through strength on Earth is important, and it is also important in the universe. The United States, particularly the Space Force, must meet this challenge. It's about deterrence. Just like the abilities of the air, land and sea, its strong presence in space discourages you from attacking your enemies in the first place. We must protect the frontier of space with the same diligence and determination that we are directing towards the borders near our homes. This requires investment in a balanced space force that can operate in a full range of areas.
Major General Gregory Gagnyon is the assistant director of the Space Business for Intelligence and is a senior intelligence officer for the US Space Force.
