At this month\u2019s Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall laid out his vision for \u201ctransforming\u201d the Space Force into the \u201cgreat protector\u201d as well as the key enabler for all other terrestrial operations in air, land, sea domains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our adversaries understand the importance of space superiority. Countries like China and Russia have worked so hard to rapidly develop, deploy and demonstrate military capabilities that can put our space enterprise at risk. They believe space warfare is inevitable and that they could gain a significant warfighting advantage by attacking our capabilities on orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\u2019re right, and we need to change our approach. That\u2019s why Kendall stressed the imperative of transforming the Space Force into a full-fledged armed force capable of empowering deterrence and achieving space superiority for U.S. Space Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We should expect U.S. Space Command to meet the same expectations we hold for every other combatant command \u2014 securing military superiority within its assigned domain, while providing warfighting support as an equal member of the joint force. In addition to its work developing more resilient space architectures, the Space Force should take the lead in defining, developing, and fielding offensive and defensive space capabilities it can provide to U.S. Space Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To accomplish this will require the Space Force, as well as the other services, to field appropriate capabilities, including offensive and defensive systems. In a future conflict, we must be able to deliver the critical space capabilities our terrestrial forces depend on while denying our adversaries access to theirs. Deterring conflict through credible strength is the goal; making that work requires change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. Space Command presently lacks the capabilities necessary to achieve space superiority, which undermines deterrence. Specifically, it doesn\u2019t have offensive or defensive means sufficient to deter attacks on our space assets and \u2014 if deterrence fails \u2014 to protect and defend our space assets while denying our adversaries the use of theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though the Space Force will have the dominant role in sustaining our current space capabilities and countering potential adversaries, it cannot be expected to provide all of the capabilities U.S. Space Command will need to achieve space superiority. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps\u2019 support will be required as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not all adversary space-focused offensive capabilities are on orbit. Many are based here on earth and holding them at risk will require air, maritime, cyber and land combat power. In the past, space assets have always supported terrestrial domains; it\u2019s time for that script to flip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We also need to respond to China\u2019s overt deployment of kinetic anti-satellite (ASAT) missile systems. Even though the Biden administration wants to ban destructive ASAT tests, that should not stop us from developing a capability in case we need to use it \u2014 just like the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty did not sunset our strategic triad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The quickest course of action is to modify Standard Missile-3 into a publicly acknowledged set of attack squadrons. This will reduce our vulnerability by enabling first strike stability between the U.S. and the Chinese and Russian space forces. The overt piece of this is crucial \u2014 an enemy must know a weapon exists to be deterred by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Space Force was created for an important national security purpose: to provide the means to achieve space superiority. While all the services need to support this mission, it\u2019s refreshing to see the Air Force secretary articulate the requirements for the Space Force to transform itself from being not just the \u201ckey enabler\u201d of the Joint Force, but also the \u201cgreat protector,\u201d fully manned and equipped to project military power in, from, and to space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christopher Stone is senior fellow for space studies at the Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. He is also the former special assistant to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy in the Pentagon.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We should expect U.S. Space Command to meet the same expectations we hold for every other combatant command \u2014 securing military superiority within its assigned domain, while providing warfighting support as an equal member of the joint force. In addition to its work developing more resilient space architectures, the Space Force should take the lead in defining, developing, and fielding offensive and defensive space capabilities it can provide to U.S. Space Command.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":66,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[66,160,163,36,17,23],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4225],"class_list":["post-42330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-space-report","category-newsletters","category-opinion","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XVSRZYRDPNGSLPJ7HARN3AO2ZU","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/commentary\/2022\/04\/27\/the-space-force-has-to-transform-to-meet-its-goals\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n