The Inevitability of Real Star Wars

"We must protect our space capabilities while also being able to deny an adversary the hostile use of its space capabilities."

"Because if we do not have space, we lose."

"[By 2026 the intention is to have] substantial on-orbit capabilities that allows us to compete in full-spectrum operations."

General Chance Saltzman, chief, space operations. U.S. Space Force

Space is becoming an increasingly contested domain and more countries are preparing for war there.(ABC News: Graphic by Lindsay Dunbar)

 

In the conviction that China and Russia are achieving advances at a rapid rate on space-based operations that would inevitability present a growing threat to American military ground assets as well as orbiting American satellites, the United States is feverishly involving itself in an expansion of its capability to fight a potential war in space. Officials at the U.S. Defense Department obliquely but increasingly acknowledge the initiative is there, and on track as a major shift in American military operations, in the anticipation that space will inevitably become a battleground for supremacy. 

It is, in fact, a reprise of the historical U.S. hysteria that surrounded the secret, high-impact research at Los Alamos when Robert Oppenheimer was given his Army orders to develop an Atomic bomb. Convinced that the Soviet Union had its research on atomic weaponry well underway, the U.S. military under President Roosevelt's administration, then Truman's presidency, pursued the goal of discovery and even played with the idea of unleashing an atomic weapon as an experimental thrust in Germany figuring a million or so civilians were expendable to their program to present a show of implacable force.

 

Saner heads prevailed and the tentative initiative was shelved, since it was clear at that point that the Second World War Allies were prevailing, and war was certain to end shortly. Yet the urge to display the power of their newfound weapon's awesome might was irresistible to those who made the final decision to bomb Japan and demonstrate at Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the United States wasn't merely playing around -- even though it was known that Japan was on the verge of surrender. 

At the present time, while the American military is in pursuit of space domination in competition with Russia and China with their own similar aspirations, their plans are in the realm of classified information. The U.S. military is in search of a new generation of ground- and space-based communication tools to enable it to defend their satellite network from attack and/or to disrupt or disable enemy spacecraft in orbit.

 

The Soyuz TMA-19M rocket launching into space from Baikonur, Kazakhstan in 2015. NASA/Joel Kowsky via Getty Images

 

Through the U.S. director of national intelligence's recent unclassified assessment and American defense officials' confidence that Russia and China have tested or deployed systems like ground-based high-energy lasers, anti-satellite missiles or maneuverable satellites with the potential for their use in disrupting American space assets helped to propel the initiatives. Reports have emerged that Russia may be in the development stages of a space-based nuclear weapon capable of wiping out satellites.

It is, however, China's expanding fleet of military space tools that grips American military interest. China has proven its capabilities in space with its first-ever landing on the far side of the moon and related geological sampling. "China has fielded a number of space capabilities designed to target our forces", U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall claims. China tripled its network of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites since 2018, according to General Stephen N. Whiting who oversees Space Command. 

 

Responsible for the use of space assets in defense of the U.S., General Whiting  described the Chinese satellites as a "kill web over the Pacific Ocean to find, fix, track and, yes, target United States and allied military capabilities". Charges that both Russia and China deny. They are concerned that it is the United States driving the militarization of space.

Both Russia and China urged the United Nations Security Council "to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space". A failed precaution. After the U.S. itself sought a resolution reiterating that nuclear weapons not be deployed in space, John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy characterized the Russia/China proposal as "hypocritical because both Russia and China are deploying weapons."

The American solution? Pursuit of what American officials call "responsible counterspace campaigning", avoiding confirmation that the United States has plans to place weapons in space. The U.S. has also committed to the avoidance of creating massive debris fields in space resulting, should an explosive device or missile be used to blow up an enemy satellite. Such missiles have been tested by the U.S., China, India and Russia, but the U.S. vowed it would not again conduct such anti-satellite tests.

Some of the American concerns seem somewhat misplaced given that it possesses ground-based systems that allow the jamming of radio signals, disrupting the ability of an enemy to communicate with its satellites. The modernization of these systems, long in use, is also taking place. There has never been confirmation by the United States that it is in possession of space-based weapons. The Defense Department has a crewless space plane (the secretive X-37B), used on seven missions which speculation has it could be designed as a weapons platform.

On the drawing board is a new generation of military satellites that can manoeuvre, be refueled while in space or have a robotic arm that could grasp an enemy satellite. Two private companies have been awarded contracts to launch two specialized spacecraft, one acting as a mock enemy, the other equipped with cameras to observe the threat it could pose. No weapons will be present on the intercept satellite, though it has a cargo hold capable of carrying weapons. 

"By no means do we want to see war extend into space."

"But if it does, we have to be prepared to fight and win."

Lieutenant General DeAnna M. Burt, deputy chief, space operations

NOAA Photo Library via Flickr CC