US Space Command Says It Is ‘Ready To Fight Tonight In Space If We Have To’

An Iranian satellite launched by Russia lifts off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan in August amid controversy Moscow could use it for Ukraine surveillance. Photograph: Yuri Kadobnov/AFP  

The Guardian: US ‘ready to fight in space if we have to’, says military official  

Threat posed by ‘provocative’ Russia and China has left US no choice but to prepare for orbital skirmishes 

The US is ready for conflict in outer space, according to a senior military official, after developing anti-satellite technologies to counter the threats posed by “provocative” countries such as Russia and China. Brig Gen Jesse Morehouse at US Space Command, the arm of the military responsible for space operations, said Russian aggression and China’s vision to become the dominant space power by mid-century, had left the US with “no choice” but to prepare for orbital skirmishes. 

“The United States of America is ready to fight tonight in space if we have to,” Morehouse told reporters in a briefing at the US embassy in London. “If someone was to threaten the United States of America, or any of our interests, including those of our allies and partners with whom we have treaties of mutual defence support, we are ready to fight tonight.”  

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WNU Editor: Is this a message to Russia to not interfere with US satellites above Ukraine?

China Making Advances In Anti-Satellite Weapons

Representational Image  

EuarAsian Times: China’s ‘Satellite Killer’ Spacecraft Threatens To Puncture US Military In Space By Crippling Its Recon, Navigation & EW Satellites  

On May 8, a mysterious reusable Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth after staying in orbit for 276 days. On the face of it, it seems like a mere technological development. But, from a military perspective, it has far-reaching consequences. 

A highly maneuverable spacecraft like this could be used to “surveil, disrupt and outright attack an opponent’s space-based assets” or conversely can “retrieve or otherwise interact with friendly ones.” 

Private space services company LeoLabs revealed on its Twitter handle that the Chinese reusable space vehicle “docked with or captured a separate object on multiple occasions” during the orbit. 

The Chinese state-run China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has not provided many details about its time in orbit.

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More News On China Making Advances In Anti-Satellite Weapons  

 Space Force chief says China is developing anti-satellite missiles, electronic jammers and lasers -- Daily Mail  

China’s plan for anti-satellite cyber weapon found in leaked CIA documents -- Tech Monitor  

Chinese Spaceplane Docked With Another Object Multiple Times Data Indicates -- Warzone 

China's secretive mini spaceplane comes into limited view -- Asia Times  

China Could Be Using Laser Weapons to Hijack American Satellites -- Popular Mechanics

 China Developing Anti-Satellite Weapons - Report -- InfoSecurity Magazine  

China and Strategic Instability in Space –- The Diplomat

China Developing Cyberweapons To Hijack Satellites

The Dragon SpaceX satellite. China’s ambitious cyber attacks aim to mimic the signals that satellites receive from their operators, tricking them into being taken over or to malfunction. European Space Agency. 

DW: China building ability to hijack enemy satellites: report 

Classified US intelligence has revealed how Beijing seeks control of wartime communications, the Financial Times reported. Both Moscow and Beijing have recently made advances in satellite jamming and other tools. 

China is building hacking capabilities that will allow it to "seize control" of enemy satellites, the Financial Times (FT) reported Friday, citing a leaked report from the CIA. 

The revelation comes amid ongoing tensions between Beijing and Washington over trade and geopolitics, as concerns rise that China may try to invade Taiwan, a territory it considers its own.  

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Update #1: China building cyberweapons to hijack enemy satellites, says US leak (Ars Technica)  

Update #2: China's push to hijack enemy satellites could be 'game over' for US, national security expert warns (FOX News)  

WNU Editor: If China develops weapons that can hijack satellites, it is an understatement to say that it will be a direct threat to US national security.

Pentagon Prepares For War In Space

A key aim of the U.S. Space Force, created in 2019, is to plan, equip and defend U.S. interests in space.Photo: etienne laurent/Shutterstock  

Wall Street Journal: Pentagon Prepares for Space Warfare as Potential Threats From China, Russia Grow  

White House’s spending request includes plans for simulators, equipment to train Space Force members for battle 

The Pentagon is gearing up for a future conflict in space as China and Russia deploy missiles and lasers that can take out satellites and disrupt military and civilian communications. 

The U.S. military long ago dropped the notion of crewed, orbiting space weapons in favor of satellites because the logistics of supporting people outside of Earth’s atmosphere were formidable. 

The physics of space also make it impossible to sneak up on an enemy or quickly change orbit or direction. And earthbound tactics don’t work in space, where the U.S., China and Russia are all turning to satellites and sensors to wage and win any conflict. 

 “You can’t dig trenches in space,” said Marty Whelan, senior vice president of the Defense Systems Group at The Aerospace Corp., a federally funded research group. 

“If deterrence fails, you can’t wait until something bad happens to get ready. You have to have the full infrastructure together,” said Mr. Whelan, a former Air Force major general, who led a strategic review of space systems for the Pentagon and the intelligence community. 

The White House this month proposed a $30 billion annual budget for the U.S. Space Force, almost $4 billion more than last year and a bigger jump than for other services including the Air Force and the Navy. 

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WNU editor: When it comes to space, the Pentagon is focused on China .... China Deploys Weapons Capable Of ‘Wiping’ US Space Capabilities; PLA’s Phenomenal Rise Alarms Pentagon (EurAsian Times).

Senior Russian Diplomat Warns That Civilian Satellites Used By The Military In The Ukraine War Could Become Targets

 

RT: Russia issues space warning  

Civilian satellites used by the military could become targets, a senior Moscow diplomat has cautioned  

The US and its allies are exposing civilian space assets to potential attack by utilizing them for military purposes, a senior Russian diplomat has warned. The warning came after NATO unveiled plans for a space monitoring fleet that will use commercial and military satellites for its missions.

Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy director of the non-proliferation and weapons control directorate in the Russian Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday that the US is weaponizing space and blurring the boundaries between military and civilian infrastructure in orbit.  

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WNU Editor: Everyday I am seeing more and more escalation in this conflict. No one is clearly interested in de-escalating the situation.

US and Japanese Officials Say Attacks on Satellites May Trigger Military Response

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III co-host the 2023 U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and Japanese Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu, at the Department of State. Washington, D.C., Jan 11, 2023. (DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jack Sanders)  

Military.com: Attacks on Satellites May Trigger Military Response, US and Japanese Officials Say 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced alongside Japanese officials on Wednesday that they would consider military retaliation in response to attacks on satellites, a policy that puts China and Russia on notice amid looming threats in space. 

Space Force and U.S. Space Command are in charge of monitoring and protecting America's satellite fleet. With additional treaty obligations between the U.S. and Japan, American forces could be drawn into a skirmish if Japanese satellites are targeted.  

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WNU Editor: The US is putting China and Russia on notice.

Russia Building A Ground-Based Laser Weapon To Blind Enemy Satellites

Space Review: Kalina: a Russian ground-based laser to dazzle imaging satellites 

There is strong evidence that a space surveillance complex in Russia’s northern Caucasus is being outfitted with a new laser system called Kalina that will target optical systems of foreign imaging satellites flying over Russian territory. Initiated in 2011, the project has suffered numerous delays, but recent Google Earth imagery shows that construction is now well underway. Kalina will complement a mobile laser dazzler known as Peresvet that has been operational since late 2019. 

 The Krona space surveillance complex Kalina is part of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Krona space surveillance complex, situated several kilometers west of Zelenchukskaya, a place well known in the astronomical community. Also located in its immediate vicinity are the Russian Academy of Science’s Special Astrophysical Observatory (housing the six-meter BTA telescope) and the RATAN-600 radio telescope.  

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Update #1: Kalina: Russia's advanced laser system that can blind enemy satellites (WION)  

Update #2: Russia Building Laser Weapon To 'Soft Kill' US Spy Satellites (Zero Hedge)  

WNU Editor: Russia is not the only country building these space weapons .... China's Directed Energy Weapons and Counterspace Applications (The Diplomat).

Space Force Commander Says Russia And China Are Attacking US Satellites 'Every Single Day' With Lasers, Radio Jammers And Cyber Attacks

Antisatellite weaponry, such as the missiles shown in this artist's rendition, could spark a new arms race in outer space. Credit: Kenn Brown, Mondolithic Studios  

Daily Mail: Russia and China are attacking US satellites 'every single day' with lasers, radio jammers and cyber attacks in a shadow space war, Space Force commander claims 

* Space Force General David Thompson said that the US's space capability is still the best in the world but that China is 'catching up quickly' 

* Thompson said it’s 'an evolution of activity that’s been happening for a long time' 

* China is reportedly working on a global network of satellites to survey the world 

* In 2019 a Russian satellite came so close to an American one during a weapons test that the US military feared it was the beginning of an attack 

American satellites far outside the Earth's orbit are facing a near-constant barrage of threats from Russian and Chinese technology, and it's only getting worse, a top Space Force officer is warning. 

An arms race in space between the US, Russia and China has been steadily heating up in recent years even as officials in Washington warn that such a build-up is dangerous.  

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WNU Editor: If A Russia or Chinese warship attacks a US warship it would be treated as an act of war. But apparently in space a different set of rules apply. 

Space Force Commander Says Russia And China Are Attacking US Satellites 'Every Single Day' 

Space Force General: China and Russia attacking U.S. space assets 'every day' -- Washington Post  

Space Force General Says China and Russia Are Attacking US Satellites “Every Single Day” -- Futurism 

Space Force official: Satellites in orbit have become pawns in geopolitical chess games -- Space News

China Is Ready For A War In Space

Shay Stautz, National Interest: China Is Ready for a Space War

Beijing is making new developments in space after spending decades envying NASA’s dominance in the region.

On this day in 1969, Americans Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. They were the first of a select group of Americans to be the only humans to do so. Fast forward to more recent times: in May, the world saw America return to launching American’s to space with the SpaceX launch to the International Space Station. Now, in just ten days, NASA will launch its Perseverance rover to Mars, the latest in a fleet of American vehicles on the red planet. The historic anniversary of Apollo 11 and NASA current activities remind us of both America’s dominant history as well as its current dynamism in space.

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WNU Editor: China has been preparing for war in space for a long time .... China Prepares For Space Warfare (December 31, 2015).

Pentagon Gets Ready For War In Space

Washington Examiner: Shanahan warns war is coming to space, with China the likely adversary

“The next major conflict may be won or lost in space,” Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said at a symposium on space in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tuesday. “We must confront reality. Weapons are currently deployed by our competitors that can attack our assets in space.”

Shanahan, making the case for President Trump’s Space Force proposal, said both Russia and China have already weaponized space with the intent to put American satellites at risk in the event of conflict.

Shanahan singled out China, which has emerged as a major space rival in recent years, for its development of weapons that can jam or destroy U.S. surveillance, communications, and navigation satellites.

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WNU Editor: Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan's concerns about China are justified .... For China, Space Is About Politics and War (Joshua Philipp, Epoch Times). Capital Hill has another opinion .... Space Force plans meet with skepticism, confusion on Capitol Hill (Washington Times).

More News On The U.S. Preparing for War In Space

Pentagon Officials Are Preparing for an All-Out Space War -- David Axe, Daily Beast
USAF Secretary Gives Ominous Warning That Show Of Force Needed To Deter Space Attacks -- Warzone/The Drive
U.S. Defense Secretary: Establish a space force to protect future -- CGTN
Space Force faces Senate panel’s skepticism, concerns -- Stars and Stripes
Senators remain skeptical of Space Force -- Roll Call
Air Force Sec Says US May Demo New Space Weapon To Deter -- Breaking Defense
National Reconnaissance Office could join Space Force down the road, Shanahan says -- Defense News
US Is in a New Space Race with China and Russia, VP Pence Says -- Space.com
The looming specter of Asian space wars -- Nikkei Asian Review
Are we destined to have a space war? -- SCMP/AFP

America Prepares For War In Space

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Warrior Maven: How America is Revving Up Preparations for Massive Space War

Six Trends Guide America’s Future in Space

Staying ahead of space trends – from satellite manufacture to new launch options – is daunting. Six trends – at least – are at work. To what exact end they vector is unclear, but watching is important. These trends will affect American investment in space, national security, our modern standards of living, and our wider economy.

First, heavy satellites are getting heavier, as more capability is attached to each satellite. Capabilities are commercial to national security, communications to climate prediction, crisis response to territorial protection, real-time analysis to event anticipation.

Heavier satellites tend to raise launch costs and can be expensive to design and build, but may reduce ground-station costs. While heavy satellites represent only a narrow slice of the market, this trend reinforces continued (but very expensive) interest in heavy lift. Additionally, a renewed emphasis on man-rated heavy launch capability only ups this ante.

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WNU Editor:The U.S. has been preparing for a war in space for a long time .... The U.S. Is Gearing Up For Space War (April 21, 2017).

The U.S. Military Is Building A Space Plane

Boeing's reusable spaceplane, depicted as a rendering, is under development through a public-private partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (Boeing Co.)

Los Angeles Times: The military is building a space plane. Now it looks to have an engine up to the task

A new generation of GPS satellites is set to launch into orbit later this year. As with other national security missions, a roughly 200-foot-tall rocket will blast the massive satellite to space, fulfilling a contract worth more than $80 million.

But as nations develop technology to disable or shoot down satellites, the U.S. military has started to look at ways to rapidly and cheaply launch smaller crafts into space. One option: a reusable spaceplane that could launch small satellites 10 times in 10 days, spearheaded by a Pentagon research agency and aerospace giant Boeing Co.

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WNU Editor: The militarization of space continues.

Is The U.S. Ready To Wage War In Space?

Bryan Bender and Jacqueline Klimas, Politico: Space war is coming — and the U.S. is not ready

‘We are now approaching a point where “Star Wars” is not just a movie,’ one government adviser warns.

War is coming to outer space, and the Pentagon warns it is not yet ready, following years of underinvesting while the military focused on a host of threats on Earth.

Russia and China are years ahead of the United States in developing the means to destroy or disable satellites that the U.S. military depends on for everything from gathering intelligence to guiding precision bombs, missiles and drones.

Now the Pentagon is trying to catch up — pouring billions more dollars into hardening its defenses against anti-satellite weapons, training troops to operate in the event their space lifeline is cut, and honing ways to retaliate against a new form of combat that experts warn could affect millions of people, cause untold collateral damage and spread to battlefields on Earth.

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More News On U.S. Preparations For War In Space

Military's Space Adviser: US Not Ready for War in Space -- Newsmax
'Space Force' Idea Isn't Dead, Intel Chief Says -- DoD Buzz
Q&A: Air Force Gen. John Hyten says U.S. space strategy, budget moving ‘down the right path’ -- Space News
Trump floats the idea of creating a 'Space Force' to fight wars in space -- CNBC
Why Would We Need a U.S. Space Force, Anyway? -- Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics

Air Force Chief of Staff Predicts That We’ll Be Fighting From Space In A Matter Of Years

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein speaks at the Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium, Orlando, Fla., Feb. 23, 2018. Credit: U.S. Air Force

Space News: Air Force Chief Goldfein: ‘We’ll be fighting from space in a matter of years’

Goldfein: To prepare to fight from space, the Air Force will have to invest in new technology but also in the training of leaders.

ORLANDO, FLA. — Gen. David Goldfein’s speech on Friday represented the strongest rhetoric yet on space warfare as an area that deserves special attention from the U.S. Air Force.

Goldfein, the Air Force’s chief of staff, told a large audience of active-duty airmen that they have to start thinking about outer space the same way they think about airspace.

In a keynote speech at the Air Force Association’s air warfare symposium, the general said it is “time for us as a service, regardless of specialty badge, to embrace space superiority with the same passion and sense of ownership as we apply to air superiority today.”

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WNU Editor: He is probably right.

Will China And Russia Soon BE Able To Have The Capability To Destroy U.S. Satellites?

Washington Free Beacon: Pentagon: China, Russia Soon Capable of Destroying U.S. Satellites

J-2 intelligence report warns of new dangers to low earth orbit satellites.

China and Russia are developing anti-satellite missiles and other weapons and will soon be capable of damaging or destroying all U.S. satellites in low-earth orbit, according to the Pentagon's Joint Staff.

The Joint Staff intelligence directorate, known as J-2, issued the warning in a recent report on the growing threat of anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons from those states, according to officials familiar with the assessment.

The report concludes that "China and Russia will be capable of severely disrupting or destroying U.S. satellites in low-earth orbit" in the next several years, said the officials.

The capability to attack low-earth orbit satellites could be in place by 2020, the officials said.

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Update: Pentagon Prepares For Next Global Conflict Which Could Start In Outer Space (Zero Hedge)

WNU Editor: No one would win in such a conflict. War in space will probably result in the dispersion of massive amounts of debris  that will make space .... at least at the lower elevations .... impossible to use for decades.

This Is How The U.S. AIr Force Will Wage War From Space

The U.S. Air Force's X-37B unmanned spaceplane that orbits for hundreds of days at a time on classified missions. 'It's really used and designed for doing things in orbit and then being able to bring experiments back down to Earth,' says Gen. Raymond. U.S. Air Force

Popular Mechanics: Space War: How the Air Force Plans to Defend the Final Frontier

Militarized space is already here, so Popular Mechanics sat down with the top general of Air Force Space Command to figure out what that really means.

If you ask the Pentagon, the first space war was more than 25 years ago.

"People reference Desert Storm as the first space war," General John W. "Jay" Raymond, commander of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), said during a recent visit to the Popular Mechanics offices in New York. "It really was the first time that we took strategic space information and integrated it into a theater of operations."

The "left hook" of Operation Desert Storm, when U.S. and allied ground forces attacked the western flank of the Iraqi military in Kuwait, revealed the true power of satellites in wartime. "Going through a desert, at night, without roads and maps—it was all enabled by GPS," Raymond says.

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WNU Editor: The Chinese are trying to catch up .... Blast-off for China's new-generation Beidou-3 satellites to rival GPS (South China Morning Post).

China Gets Ready For War In Space

Bill Gertz, Asia Times: China’s Great Leap in space warfare creates huge new threat

China is building an array of high-technology space arms – anti-satellite missiles, lasers, GPS jammers and killer satellites – that Beijing says will give its military strategic advantage in a future conflict with the United States.

The People’s Liberation Army now has the capability of attacking, destroying or disrupting the 500 US satellites circling the earth at heights of between 1,200 miles and 22,000 miles, according to a new study by a US think tank, the National Institute for Public Policy.

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WNU Editor: The Chinese still have a long way to go.

Laying Down The Rules On How War In Space Will Be Fought

There is an Outer Space Treaty which acts as international space law, but with the pact celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, legislators are working on an updated model to produce a future-proof version called Milamos - the manual on international law applicable to military uses of outer space

Daily Mail: Laying down the law for the real-life Star Wars: Scientists and lawyers draft the first legal manual for space warfare including rules on firing lasers and attacking satellites

* An existing treaty states that outer space is to be used for 'peaceful purposes'
* No country can lay claim to celestial territory such as the moon or Mars, it says
* But treaty has specific failings in the modern era which experts are addressing
* They include hacking satellites for gain in conflict and taking astronauts hostage

A group of scientists and lawyers are drafting the first legal manual for space warfare including rules on firing lasers and attacking satellites.

The document, being drawn up by leading experts in the field from the US, the UK and Australia , will address the grey areas in legislating what happens miles above the earth.

There is an Outer Space Treaty which acts as international space law, but with the pact celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, legislators are working on an updated model to produce a future-proof version.

It is understood part of the reason for the revamp is the threat of using space in modern warfare to stop the likes of Star Wars and Star Trek becoming a reality.

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WNU Editor:  They are hoping that this will be an update on the current 50 year old Outer Space Treaty.

The U.S. Is Gearing Up For Space War

Source: Digital Global

DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 super-spectral 30-cm imagery allows for fast and precise mapping of various features anywhere in the world. (Pictured here: Sydney)

CNBC: How the US is gearing up as fear of a space war mounts

* Air Force creates a new position for a three-star general that will serve as a space czar advising the Air Force secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
* SpaceX wins second military contract to launch an Air Force GPS satellite.
* DARPA signs deal with Decartes Labs to gain insights on satellite imagery using machine learning.

Tapping Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch some of its satellites is only the beginning in a larger top-to-bottom rethink of the way the U.S. Air Force approaches its operations in space. Air Force officials want to move faster when addressing emerging threats and future missions in orbit, and it's increasingly looking to start-ups to address a deepening sense that America's dominance in space is eroding.

The goal: to protect our satellites and spacecraft from cyberwarfare and missile attack. This is critical, since space weapons could be used to compromise navigation, surveillance, communications and other functions in wartime or during a national emergency.

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WNU Editor: Controlling the high ground has always been the priority for competing armies .... and the high ground today is space.

U.S. Air Force Getting Ready To Fight War In Space

An artist's rendering of Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite. AEHF-1 launched Aug. 14, 2010 and reached its operational geosynchronous earth orbit Oct. 24, 2011. (Courtesy photo Space and Missile Systems Center)

Axios: The U.S. Air Force is preparing to fight in space

The Air Force has developed a new strategy to increase its capability to fight a war in space. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein said the changes announced Tuesday were to "ensure we can organize, train, and equip our space forces to have the skills necessary to operate in a contested environment, defend our systems, and assure space missions and space superiority."

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More News On The U.S. Air Force Getting Ready To Fight War In Space

Next Job for US Air Force: Space Cop? -- Space.com
The US Air Force Is Reorganizing to Fight in Space -- Defense One
US Air Force Preparing for War in Space -- Military.com
Rogers calls for separate “Space Corps” within the Air Force -- Space News
Great-Power Rivalry May Turn Space War Real -- Marina Koren, The Atlantic
America's Space Commanders Rattle Their Lightsabers -- The Atlantic