US space superiority crucial in fight with China, Russia

And let's go, Falcon, go Starlight

Out of the billions of people who ever called Earth home, fewer than 700 of us ever went into

space. However, almost the entirety of modern civilization today depends on things humans put

into orbit. Everything from our power grid and communication systems to navigation, even banking

software at ATMs depend on their ability to communicate with satellites in space

It makes space-based assets incredibly important and vulnerable. But there was a gentleman's agreement until recent that we didn't mess with each other's

space systems. We didn't jam them, we didn't spoof them, we didn't laze them

We just kept them safe. We didn't have to worry about that

Unfortunately, General Michael Gutland says that's changing. Vice Chief of Space Operations says adversaries like China and Russia

are willing to go against international norms of behavior, fully cementing space as a warfighting domain

Gutland says both China and Russia can shoot down satellites with missiles from Earth

but they are also proving adept at fielding other orbital options The new norms of behavior in space unfortunately within the past three years jamming spoofing dazzling norms of behavior they happening all around us

Cyber hacks are happening all around us on a day-to-day basis. What's more concerning is the new kit that they're bringing to the fight

nesting dolls in space that launch that capable of launching an ASAT to take out or a 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, we move, they move

We don't know what their intent is. We don't know what their capabilities are. Unsafe

unprofessional. Gutland says some Chinese satellites even have grappling arms able to

pull satellites out of orbit and potentially hold them hostage. Everybody is starting to recognize

how much more critical space is becoming to our nation and to our national defense

And in the exact same time frame, the Space Force is shrinking. And that's just a fundamental disconnect that I think we have to solve

General Chance Saltzman is the chief of U.S. Space Force operations. During a recent discussion

with the Mitchell Institute, General Saltzman said when it comes to seeing space as a war

fighting domain achieving space superiority is as essential as air superiority in a traditional war just from a different altitude If we don have space superior if we can protect what we have

and deny the adversary the use of space-enabled targeting against our forces

we are going to struggle to meet military objectives. So it's an imperative. Space superiority is an imperative

and we've just got to get after it. Saltzman says there are three guiding concepts to maintaining U.S. space superiority

and they're all interconnected. The first is avoiding operational surprises. Space is huge

so the US needs enough assets and space to monitor what's going on. Concept two

offense holds the advantage. Satellites present juicy targets because up until now

they weren't built with onboard defenses in mind. Take one out and you could cripple your enemy

So now, Space Force commanders are again calling for more satellites, but not necessarily fancier ones. The idea being if one goes down, the others pick up the slack

creating resiliency. The third concept Saltzman says is needed for maintaining U.S. space

superiority is responsible counter space operations, or generating the ability to stop

your enemy from using their space assets while still maintaining your ability to use your own Without a doubt the task given to U Space Force is a tall order and vital to every other branch of the U military But the Space Force only has 15 guardians in its ranks

and gets just three and a half percent of the DoD's total budget. Add in the fact Congress

signed another continuing resolution instead of passing an actual budget, and Saltzman says the

Space Force is literally losing money year over year, something he says has to change

The adversary is not stopping. They are progressing. Their curve for developing

capabilities is on a different slope than ours. Those that have been in the Pentagon wars associated

with resourcing know that what really happens is your baseline budget just gets iterated on

each year. It's a copy of a copy with slight improvements and adjustments. So what I think we're looking at is a fundamental shift, a step function shift in space capabilities through the Space Force budget

If there isn't a monumental shift in the DoD's approach to Space Force funding

Saltzman says American space superiority could cease and the reign of Chinese space dominance could begin

And that's an outcome neither the U.S. nor its allies want to see happen

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