The United States Space Force should pivot its focus to keeping pace with weaponry used in orbit by the nationâs Adversaries a top General has warned.
According to Space.com, Gen Michael A. Guetlein, Vice Chief of Space Operations spoke at the 16th annual McAleese âDefense Programsâ Conference in Arlington, Virgina, Tuesday, and warned that Space Force needs to rethink how its approaches its satellite security measures.
âThe reason we stood the United States Space Force up, was to make a pivot,â Guetlein said. âBecause we had seen our near peers starting to catch up with us and starting to get very capable and very determined at denying our ability to use space.â
Guetlein said the Space Force needs to work on enhancing its war-fighting capabilities.
He continued: âWhat we did not inherit when we stood up the United States Space Force, is space superiority as a core function. We didnât have the doctrine, we didnât have culture, we didnât have the kit. And part of standing up the Space Force was to make it a war-fighting force, capable of defending our capabilities in and through space, capable of guaranteeing that we are going to have space superiority for the joint force, no matter what the joint-force is asked to do.â
Guetlein noted that one of the issues is people thinking that Space Force isnât actually real, and this attitude is working against the U.S. because people arenât necessarily worried about space.
âThat is the pivot we are trying to make,â Guetlin said. âBut we are still new enough that people donât understand that Space Force is real ⌠that was a luxury that we had when space wasnât contested. We no longer enjoy that luxury. â
Guetlin said that Americans donât understand how critical space is to their everyday lives, and noted that U.S. Adversaries are now blocking, jamming, and carrying out cyber-attacks on a regular basis.
âWhatâs more concerning, is the new kit that theyâre bringing to the fight â nesting dolls in space that are capable of launching an ASAT missile to take out another satellite, shadowing U.S. satellites. Multiple satellites up there today are shadowing our U.S. satellites in a cat and mouse game, we move, they move,â Guetlein said.
The weapons that are now being used in space is also alarming and Guetlin noted that the talk of nuclear weapons being used in space is now a regular discussion.
âWeâre seeing nukes in space now, the talk of nukes in space, that would have never happened before we stood up the United States Space Force ⌠now weâre seeing hypersonics.â Guetlin said.
âWe are also now starting to see our near peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in space, with satellite on satellite,âGuetlin said. âThe environment has completely changed. There used to be a capability gap between us and our near peers, mainly driven by the technological advancement of the United States. That capability gap used to be massive, that capability gap has significantly narrowed.â