News | Sept. 18, 2024

Space is a contested domain

By Maj. Erin Leon

When thinking about current wars, the war in Ukraine or the conflict in Israel may come to mind, but what might not be immediately apparent is the emerging conflict in space.  
 
“The peaceful use of space may no longer be assumed,” said U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman at the annual Air & Space Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference. “And yet, our Nation depends on space every day, both for National Security and for our prosperity.” 
 
The idea of space as a contested domain was explored in depth during a panel discussion at the conference entitled ‘The Wars We’re Fighting.’ 
 
“We have a moral obligation to do three different responsibilities,” said U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, U.S. Space Forces-Space commander. “That is to protect the joint warfighter from space enabled attack...to defend our assets and our Allies’ assets from being attacked so that we can do our third mission which is to deliver those space capabilities.” 
 
This is an expansion of responsibilities for space operators in the military, who have historically focused on the deliver aspect of the mission. 
 
“The risk of the Space Force is really that we were built on a deliver mission for benign operations,” said Schiess. “Now we're being asked to defend the U.S. Space Command AOR and have space superiority, so our risk is how fast we can get to the capabilities that we need.” 
 
The evolution from a deliver mission to a protect and defend mission has emerged due to expanding counterspace threats being developed by Russia and China. 
 
"Both Russia and the PRC are evolving their military doctrines to extend into space," Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said during the USSPACECOM change of command earlier this year. "They're both deploying capabilities that can target GPS and other vital space-based systems, and we've seen both countries conduct operations against us and our allies and partners to degrade our space advantages. Our competitors' aggressive actions seek to turn space into a warfighting domain." 
 
While Schiess did express the need for additional resources to continue to meet the pacing challenge, he emphasized that the people within the Space Force are our greatest asset. 
 
“Right now, there are Guardians around the world that are in operations centers providing space capabilities,” said Schiess. “That is our best asset right there, those Guardians.” 
 
Schiess continued, “They work with the kit that they have to be able to say to the Russian Federation and to the PLA 'Today is not the day' because our Guardians are going to make sure that you are not going to win.”