US risks losing space and military tech dominance without commercial sector support, Space Force commander warns

[midian182]

In brief: The United States' dominant position when it comes to the space industry and, by extension, certain military tech could be lost as adversaries such as Russia and especially China make huge gains. The commander of the US Space Force (USSF) warns that without help from the commercial sector, "the US will lose."

Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations for USSF, talked about the need for the military to form partnerships with the commercial space sector, such as SpaceX, ULA, and Blue Origin (eventually), to develop new space-based tech.

"The Space Force must harness the benefits of technological innovation and emerging capabilities if we are going to be able to outcompete our competitors, or the Space Force will lose, the Joint Force will lose, and the US will lose," Saltzman warned in his speech at the Space Foundation's 2024 Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

Gen. B. Chance Saltzman

Saltzman noted that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has illustrated that big wars can quickly return. He added that the conflict has also proven how cooperation between industry leaders and allies can be effective.

Saltzman is likely talking about the role Elon Musk's SpaceX has played in Ukraine. The company has supplied over 42,000 Starlink terminals to the country and maintained them since Russia invaded, helping keep the nation's critical infrastructure and its citizens online. The situation led to Russia reiterating its warning that SpaceX satellites could become targets if used for military purposes.

There have been moments where the Starlink/Ukraine relationship has become strained, such as when SpaceX stopped the country from using Starlink to control drones, when Musk warned that it can't fund Ukraine indefinitely (which he went back on), and allegations that he disabled Starlink to prevent an attack on Russian ships.

Saltzman also mentioned the threat posed by China. "Frankly, China is moving at a breathtaking speed. Since 2018, China has more than tripled their on-orbit intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites," he said. "And with these systems, they've built a kill web over the Pacific Ocean to find, fix, track and, yes, target United States and allied military capabilities."

Saltzman added that China has built a range of counterspace weapons. Leaked CIA files last year showed the country is building sophisticated cyberweapons that could "seize control" of satellites belonging to enemy Western nations, rendering them ineffective at supporting communications, weapons, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. Chinese military researchers previously urged the government to develop ways of destroying or disabling the satellites.

There is precedent for the military working with commercial entities. Saltzman highlighted how the US Navy partnered with the coal industry during the Spanish-American War. In more recent times, the US Air Force has partnered with commercial satellite operators Inmarsat and Intelsat to provide satellite communication services.

The speech came just as the USSF published a new Commercial Space Strategy that calls for "cultivating commercial partnerships to increase US competitive advantage." Space Force writes that priority areas for new commercial partnerships are tactical surveillance, reconnaissance, and tracking; space-based environmental monitoring; positioning, navigation, and timing; and space access, mobility, and logistics.

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US risks losing space and military tech dominance without commercial sector support, Space Force commander warns

 

[yRaz]

Sounds like someone is begging for money to stay relevant. China can't fuel its own missiles and Russia can't fight Ukraine. If the US wants to fight instead of just satisfying lobbyists with taxpayer debt, it would steamroll China and Russia.

And then there is NATO. It also doesn't help that if China starts a war then western nations stop buying from them and their economy crashes. Can't say I'm worried about Russia or China. It also doesn't help that China can't help itself but start **** with India while it's got all this other crap going on.

 

[Dimitriid]

The issue here is that I cannot recall a single time when the military budget has been decreased in several decades, in fact it's grown year-over-year and way past inflation to the point that it's orders of magnitude bigger defense budget than any other country on the planet.

So no, it's not like the military is actually hurting for more money, they can basically have almost as much as it's humanly possible to spend. What they want and the implications is far worst: private companies investing means essentially the US shifting defense to be more of a mercenary force: just a bunch of not just hired people but rented equipment.

That means just less oversight since technically they're not going through budget requests and disclosure so they just ask congress 'New budget needs: write a check for 400 more billion per year for our private sector partners' Without disclosing what's actually happening, what it goes to, etc.

It also would mean less accountability: 'The US military does not commit any war crimes...If there was any such reports, it was our private contractors we'll fix the issue and slap their wrist properly'

 

[erickmendes]

"And with these systems, they've built a kill web over the Pacific Ocean to find, fix, track and, yes, target United States and allied military capabilities."

 

[wiyosaya]

Maybe, just maybe, this will get the attention of the US Congress and will finally give the US Congress the incentive to "fund space programs again." For decades, the US Congress has pissed and moaned that the Space program is a waste of money, even though it is, and was, known to fuel technological innovation.

But then again, WTF? Do we expect any congressional representative to understand technological issues? NFW, IMO.

In this case, I think Forest Gump's "Stupid is as stupid does" applies perfectly - except for John Glenn - rest his soul.

 

[NumberNine]

How about you just fund NASA?

 

[kiwigraeme]

Excellent article, this is why The USA need a strong Daddy ie President

Reagan - Promised and gave USA the Star Wars Defense Shield - Stilly amazing tech for the time , space based lasers to nullify any Long Range Missile attacks. Reagan showed incredible commitment to sparkle-motion in the sky at the time.

Now with Russia's 1000 mile convoy of hypersonic missiles, it's no longer up to scratch

Some of the Ruskie weapons

Zircon - with built in Auto-bot capabilities
Kinzhal.
Kh-95 long-range hypersonic cruise missile. aka Yankee go Kaput
R-37M.
Zmeevik . aka See me Fivk you up.
Gremlin Hypersonic Guided Rocket (GZUR)- yes that's it's real name.

As well as The usual SS Death Head nukes

President Trump - Has assemble a great Space Force . Great uniforms by the way, the Space Navy cadets had tears steaming down their faces when they saw them.

Now Biden is running it down with no meaningful budget increase over inflation

So you need to Vote MAGA Magnifico Aero Galactica Armada

 

[AdamNovagen]

Sounds like someone is begging for money to stay relevant. China can't fuel its own missiles and Russia can't fight Ukraine. If the US wants to fight instead of just satisfying lobbyists with taxpayer debt, it would steamroll China and Russia.

And then there is NATO. It also doesn't help that if China starts a war then western nations stop buying from them and their economy crashes. Can't say I'm worried about Russia or China. It also doesn't help that China can't help itself but start **** with India while it's got all this other crap going on.

Exactly what I thought when I saw the headline: it just translates to "'US Will Lose Edge In Near-Pointless Sector Unless It Invests More Money,' Says Head Of Near-Useless Sector"

 

[Endymio]

I cannot recall a single time when the military budget has been decreased in several decades, in fact it's grown year-over-year and way past inflation.

In inflation-adjusted dollars, the US military budget dropped in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, from $752B all the way down to $630B. Even worse, if you remove pay, benefits, and operations costs -- and focus only on the "meat" of designing, building and maintaining military defense systems -- the budget has declined 13 of the last 18 years.

to the point that it's orders of magnitude bigger defense budget than any other country on the planet.

Do you know what "orders of magnitude" means? China's "official" military budget is $230B, far less than even one order of magnitude from the US. It's true budget -- counting spending they fail to disclose and the special rates they grant the military sector, is much larger. On a purchasing-power basis, China's budget is considerably larger than the US. In terms of salary and benefits, China pays its entire 2.1 million armed forces about 60% of what the US spends on its far smaller 1 million active duty troops.

it just translates to "'US Will Lose Edge In Near-Pointless Sector Unless It Invests More Money,' Says Head Of Near-Useless Sector"

So the space sector is "near useless"? Do you believe the Internet is just a passing fad as well?

 

[AdamNovagen]

So the space sector is "near useless"? Do you believe the Internet is just a passing fad as well?

Oh please; at our current level of development, utilization of space is barely even comparable to ARPANET, let alone the modern-day web. Give it another half-century or two and then we'll see.

 

[Endymio]

Oh please; at our current level of development, utilization of space is barely even comparable to ARPANET, let alone the modern-day web.

Oops! Arpanet was used for research purposes only. But we're already launching more than 1,000 commercial satellites into space every year ... each and every one of them far from "near useless".

 

[AdamNovagen]

Oops! Arpanet was used for research purposes only. But we're already launching more than 1,000 commercial satellites into space every year ... each and every one of them far from "near useless".

Commercial satellites are unrelated to Space Force, which is what this article and my remarks were about. ARPANET was for the research purpose of... Sharing resources between distant computers, and an implementation that was a far cry from what ultimately became possible with the World Wide Web we see today. This makes it a perfect example of humanity's position in space, which is still in an equally early, nowhere-near-its-full-potential stage. My statement stands.

 

[Endymio]

Commercial satellites are unrelated to Space Force, which is what this article and my remarks were about.

Then you're even farther wrong, as military use of space is even more crucial than the commercial sector. US armed forces depends crucially upon positioning technology made possible through our GPS constellation. And our worldwide "no sparrow shall drop" spy satellite network has not only prevented countless world crises, it's also one of the most significant reasons that Ukraine is holding its own against Russia at present.

Reconnaissance, navigation, C&C, satellite communication, early detection of ICBM launches and nuclear tests -- all of this depends upon the military use of space. Just because you don't see Deathstars launching Tie Fighters doesn't mean the space sector is "useless".

 

[AdamNovagen]

Then you're even farther wrong, as military use of space is even more crucial than the commercial sector.

So... Like I said... The commercial satellites are unrelated.

US armed forces depends crucially upon positioning technology made possible through our GPS constellation.

So do I, along with most of us here. Good thing GPS was fully operational in 1995, well before Space Force was established, and good thing we're in no danger of losing an edge with it. Yawn.