Defense of space communication and location information capabilities, which are the core of U.S. military superiority
Launch of 1,000 small, low-cost low-Earth orbit satellites by the end of the 2020s
In case of partial destruction, the ability to immediately refire and replenish is also promoted.
As the United States prepares in earnest for space military threats from China and Russia, space competition between powerful countries is intensifying.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 15th (local time) that the U.S. Department of Defense launched a small low-orbit satellite to establish a missile tracking satellite surveillance network a day ago.
NYT explained that the satellite launch is an early model for Russia and China to test the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), which protects communication, reconnaissance, and GPS systems, which are the core of America’s military power.
PWSA is a system that tracks ground-launched missiles with hundreds of low-cost, small, low-orbit satellites. The idea is to ensure that the military satellite network can operate even if an enemy destroys dozens of U.S. satellites.
“For a long time, America’s space capabilities have been maintained by launching a few large satellites the size of a school bus, but we are now expanding them to include small, agile, low-cost satellites that can be launched almost every week,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Katherine Hicks said last month at the U.S. Space Force Command. “We are moving to a method of building space,” he said.
U.S. officials have been concerned that if war breaks out with Russia and China, there will be an attack that could disable America’s space communications, GPS, and reconnaissance systems.
National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby confirmed at a press conference on the 15th that the information requested by the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee to be released “is related to a satellite attack capability that Russia is developing.”
The U.S. military satellite network, which tracks enemy missile launches, links communications between U.S. forces around the world, provides targeting information, and determines location and movement information of enemy forces, plays a key role in the U.S. military’s overwhelming military superiority. In addition, image information and location information provided by commercial satellites also play an important role in the U.S. economy.
◆The existing small number of geostationary military satellite networks are very vulnerable to attacks.
However, the U.S. military satellite network, which consists of a small number of satellites, is very vulnerable to attacks from satellites developed by Russia.
Retired Lieutenant General John Shaw, who served as deputy commander of the U.S. Space Command, said at an Air Force meeting last year, “If I were a member of the Russian Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, I would propose a plan to attack America’s space military power.”
The U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Development Agency plans to invest $14 billion (approximately 18.6 trillion won) over the next five years to build a new low-orbit satellite network and develop new space-based weapons.
The two low-orbit satellites launched by a Space
Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, director of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency, emphasized in a statement released prior to the satellite launch that “HBTSS is key to maintaining superiority over our adversaries.”
The U.S. Department of Defense has already signed low-orbit satellite order contracts with military conglomerates such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, and has also signed contracts with startup companies such as Rocket Lab and Sierra Space to order 18 low-orbit satellites worth $740 million.
◆Satellite launch record set in 27 hours after request from the U.S. Department of Defense
In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense is developing the ability to quickly launch new satellites when requested by the military. Last September, Firefly Aerospace launched a military satellite 27 hours after ordering. In the past, the fastest launch time was 21 days after ordering.
This is to quickly replace some satellites when they are destroyed by enemy countries.
Todd Harrison, an aerospace engineer and space security expert at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), predicted that the U.S. Department of Defense will launch 1,000 new low-Earth orbit satellites within an altitude of 2,000 km by the end of the 2020s.
Existing U.S. military satellites are also deployed in geostationary orbit at an altitude of 200,000 km, so it takes a relatively long time to transmit captured signals to Earth, making it difficult to use them to immediately specify targets with artificial intelligence-powered weapons.
China has recently been rapidly increasing its ability to destroy American satellites. China has developed a satellite weapon that extends its arms and grabs other satellites.
◆China is building a military satellite network of 13,000… Russia is already overwhelmed
Sergeant Ron Ruch, an intelligence analyst with the U.S. Space Force, said China is building a network of 13,000 military satellites. China already possesses advanced reconnaissance capabilities, such as synthetic aperture radar, which can capture military movement information day and night.
Sergeant Rutch emphasized, “China is already far ahead of Russia in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.”
The United States also already possesses missiles and radio-jamming weapons that can destroy enemy satellites on the ground, but does not officially recognize them.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post (WP) reported that the ground-launched space attack weapon being developed by Russia is equipped with a nuclear warhead.
WP emphasized that the threat of Russia’s use of space nuclear weapons heralds the return of the Cold War and the advent of the era of space warfare.
Ankit Panda, a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Russia’s space nuclear weapons “could disable a large number of low-Earth orbit satellites.”
However, Harrison AEI researcher pointed out that if Russia’s satellite-destroying weapon is a nuclear weapon, it is not very likely, saying that it could be a “suicide attack weapon” capable of destroying Russia’s military satellite network.
Placing nuclear weapons in space is a violation of the Extraterrestrial Space Convention signed in 1967. Brian Weeden, a researcher at the Safe World Foundation, emphasized that detonating a nuclear weapon in space would be politically impossible because it would greatly damage Russia’s trust within the United Nations and its trust with China.
◆Detonating a nuclear warhead in space is a “suicide attack”… There is little chance
According to a report by the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), if a nuclear bomb were exploded in space, satellites would be immediately neutralized by electromagnetic waves, and radiation would also cause satellites to malfunction in the long term.
Harrison said that when the United States conducted a nuclear test in 1962, detonating a 1.4 megaton nuclear weapon at an altitude of 400 kilometers, one-third of its satellites were affected, and the first satellite launched by the United Kingdom a few months ago was also destroyed.
Accordingly, experts emphasize the usefulness of weapons that attack satellites by firing powerful radio waves using nuclear energy.
In fact, Russia attempted to disable SpaceX’s Starlink satellite communication network used by the Ukrainian military using the Tobol electronic weapon system, but failed.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.