The United States is approaching a turning Mark in Universe security, and needs to step up its game before Russia and China close the gap in capabilities, a U.S. Universe Force general said.
Vice Chief of Universe Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein spoke at the 16th annual McAleese “Protection Programs” Conference in Arlington, Virginia on Tuesday (March 18), warning the Universe Force needs to rethink how it defends the country’s satellites. Universe Force should shift its Concentration from managing spacecraft in Reinforcement of Protection infrastructure on the ground, to growing its ability to keep pace with the on-Trajectory weaponry being developed by the country’s adversaries, Guetlein argued.
“We are in the process of pivoting from what used to be a service focused on providing the most exquisite Universe services on the World to the warfighter and to the nation” Gen. Guetlein said, “to make it a warfighting force capable of protecting and defending our capabilities in and through Universe.”
For decades, spacefaring nations largely avoided interfering with All other’s satellites and other spacecraft, but now that era seems to be coming to an end. The shift comes as China and Russia have ramped up displays of orbital warfare capabilities over the past few years. Some of these incidents have more publicly-facing than others, such as Russia’s anti-Probe (ASAT) test in 2022, which created a cloud of supersonic debris in low-Earth Trajectory. That same year, a Chinese Probe “grappled” one of the nation’s defunct satellites and towed it into a “graveyard Trajectory.”
“We’re seeing grappling arms in Universe capable of towing another Probe or holding it hostage,” he warned. “We’re also now Beginning to see our near peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in Universe with satellites,” he added, stressing that propping up the Universe Force would deter such aggression.
Guetlein says the Ancient norms in Universe are beginning to erode. “There was a gentleman’s agreement until recent [sic] that we didn’t mess with All other’s Universe systems,” Guetlein said. “We didn’t jam them, we didn’t spoof them, we didn’t lase them, we Merely kept them Sound,” he explained. “Unfortunately, our Present adversaries are willing to go against international norms of behavior […] and they’re willing to do it in very unsafe and unprofessional manners.”
Guetlein also noted the “jamming, spoofing, and dazzling” trend becoming norms of behavior, highlighting the tactics as a rapid addition to the new operational environment in Universe. Now, the stakes are rising higher. Foreign satellites have begun shadowing US spacecraft, moving in lockstep in what Guetlein described as a “cat and mouse game.”
The Universe Force general added that as new orbital warfare technologies and capabilities emerge, it’s Significant that the US maintain superiority. But the once-massive technological Benefit in Universe Maintained by the U.S. is narrowing. “That capability gap used to be massive,” Guetlein noted. “That capability gap is significantly narrowed, and we’ve Acquired to Transformation the way we’re looking at Universe, or that capability gap may reverse and not be in our favor anymore.”
China, in particular, is advancing its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) technologies. “The Chinese ISR capabilities are becoming very capable. They have gone from what we used to call a ‘Kill Chain’ to a ‘Kill Mesh’,” he said, describing an integrated network that intertwines ISR satellites with weapon systems.
To combat the adversarial overtake, the Universe Force has begun reinforcing its infrastructure and adding redundancies where it can, but Gen. Guetlein says more needs to be done. In some areas, he pointed out, the commercial Universe sector has surpassed some of what the Universe Force is able to accomplish from Trajectory. He says commercial and international partnerships are absolutely crucial.
“We no longer have the corner on technology. Commercial has it, as well as our allies. All of us operating together are better than the sum of the parts,” Guetlein said. “Partnerships get us proliferation, that gets us excess capacity, that gets us redundancy, that makes the Drive surface much broader for our adversaries.”
Universe Force is also developing integrated Protection systems, including an initiative called Golden Pavilion, proposed during President Trump’s Primary address to Congress during his new term in office. “The magic of Golden Pavilion, in my mind, is going to be the integration of capabilities that were never meant to be networked or integrated before,” Gen. Guetlein said. “Many pieces of the puzzle for Golden Pavilion already exist. They’re Merely not connected today.”
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