Military prepares for war in space: ‘The demands right now… are not theoretical’

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — More than half a decade after the creation of the Space Force, the service has and intends to continue to expand both its capabilities and the size of the force to deter a conflict fought in outer space.“Our task, my friends, is to adapt right now, so the joint force is prepared to fight, endure, and win in global contested environments, from the seabed to cislunar space,” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience largely consisting of airmen and Guardians at the Air and Space Conference in Maryland on Wednesday morning.“The demands right now on our joint force are not theoretical,” he added. The U.S. military is pursuing space capabilities in light of similar actions taken by both Russia and China, which are trying to field space weapons, potentially with the intent to disrupt U.S. capabilities.Earlier this week, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink made a notable admission when he publicly confirmed that the United States has “on-orbit space control” weapons, which marked a departure from the service’s traditional stance of ambiguity.“Today, we continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist,” Meink said. “This is why the United States now has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action.”While he declined to provide specific details of the system, Gen. Douglas A. Schiess, the chief of space operations, reiterated the sentiment in his own keynote address Wednesday: “Today, Guardians operate on-orbit weapons that can defend the joint force against space-enabled attacks.”A Space Force threat fact-sheet states, “China and Russia are developing new space systems to enhance military effectiveness and end any reliance on U.S. space services. China and Russia are also testing and fielding sophisticated counterspace capabilities with the intent to disrupt and degrade U.S. space-enabled capabilities.“China develops and operates space and counterspace capabilities as part of a military modernization strategy intended to achieve strategic decisive victory, strategic counterbalance, and strategic deterrence and control over the U.S. military in the Indo-Pacific region. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) expects space to play an important role in future conflicts by enabling long-range precision strikes and denying other militaries the use of space-based information.”The calculated reveal was designed to send a message to Russia and China, and leaders from both expressed discontent at the U.S.’s announcement.“China stands for peaceful use of outer space and keeping it safe, and opposes any arms race in outer space or any attempt to weaponize it and turn it into a warzone,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said. “We urge the U.S. to stop expanding military buildup in outer space, and uphold global strategic stability with concrete actions.”Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov shared that sentiment and warned that it could lead to a space-based arms race.The Space Force currently has roughly 11,500 service members and intends to double that total to 25,000 people over the next five years, with about two-thirds of the new Guardians likely joining Combat Forces Command.Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, the commander of U.S. Space Force Combat Forces Command, told reporters on Wednesday, “The growth that those personnel and capabilities will deliver from a capability standpoint are things like air moving target indicators, ground moving target, a more expansive and greater depth within the space control portfolio, so that the American Space Force is scoped and scaled to deliver space superiority for the nation.”The force also recently announced the activation of the 77th Surveillance Squadron, which will lead the space-based moving target indication mission. The goal is to utilize a constellation of hundreds of reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition satellites, powered by a space-based sensing and targeting program, to provide continuous surveillance of ground, air, and maritime threats.BREAKING DOWN THE MILITARY’S NEARLY $40 BILLION IRAN WARSchiess, in his remarks, also noted that the Space Force has played an active role in Operation Epic Fury, the name given to the U.S. war against Iran.“Our Guardians have been tested several times this past year. When the order came for Epic Fury, the Space Force was a part of the decision calculus on whether we executed the joint campaign at all — we were part of the minimum force package,” he said. “This is the minimum force required that a commander considers when sending military forces into harm’s way. The joint force made it clear: Without the Space Force’s capabilities, the joint force could not — and would not — move forward.”