Authors: Sun Meng, Zhang Linyuchen, College of Military and Political Basic Education, National University of Defense Technology
In September 2023, the U.S. Space Force launched an NROL-107 military satellite, which is an important part of the U.S. military's Silent Barker, and the U.S. military has not announced the specific purpose of the satellite. Silent Walker is a high-orbit space situational awareness satellite operating in geosynchronous orbit. Presumably, the spacecraft launched by the Silent Walker program is designed to monitor outer space, tracking existing and newly launched artificial Earth satellites.
On September 10, 2023, a rocket carrying the Silent Barker satellite was launched from Florida
According to data on the Internet, the Silent Walker program aims to improve real-time perception of movements in outer space, in Earth's orbit, but the details are extremely limited. The Silent Walker satellite is planned to be placed in an orbit about 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. The Silent Walker program is implemented by the U.S. Space Force (USSF) in conjunction with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The satellite is scheduled to be launched into orbit by the Atlas V launch vehicle, and the Joint Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, will be responsible for the launch of the satellite. In fact, under the guise of protecting space, Silent Walker closely monitors the space assets of other countries and constantly hypes up the space threats of other countries. According to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Silent Walker aims to meet the so-called "space protection" needs of the US Department of Defense and intelligence agencies, but in fact it creates an excuse for the US to develop its own military strength and seek hegemony in outer space. It is the United States that faces the greatest threat to outer space security. In recent years, the United States has made frequent moves in the field of space security, which is thought-provoking.
First, the storm has risen again, and the United States has re-established the Space Command
On August 29, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the establishment of the U.S. Space Command at the White House, stating that "space is at the center of U.S. national security and defense." The U.S. Space Command is not a nascent military organization, as early as 1985, then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan established Space Command as an important part of the "Star Wars program". However, after 9/11 in 2001, the U.S. armed forces shifted to counterterrorism and homeland security, and Space Command was disbanded in 2002 and its functions were merged by Strategic Command. The functional structure of the newly established Space Command has been restructured to coincide with the overall military transformation of the United States. This also indicates that the United States is paying more attention to the competition for space, a key combat field, under the strategy of "great power competition," with the intention of maintaining and consolidating the existing superiority of the United States in space. The militarization of space in the United States has accelerated abruptly, opening the prelude to the so-called "space arms race."
Space Command became the 11th joint operations command of the U.S. military and the fifth functional combat command alongside the Strategic Command, the Special Operations Command, the Transportation Command, and the Cyber Command. Its re-establishment means that former US President Donald Trump has taken a key step towards the ultimate goal of creating an independent space force. According to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence at the Pentagon on August 9, the establishment of a Space Force requires the completion of four tasks, including the establishment of a Space Command, the establishment of a Space Combat Group, the establishment of a Space Development Agency to develop cutting-edge space combat technology, and the establishment of a civilian assistant secretary of defense in charge of space affairs. It is the sixth branch of the armed forces after the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
The United States announced the official establishment of the Space Command
Second, the US Space Force has implemented a number of measures through a multi-pronged approach
The U.S. Space Force's budget request for fiscal year 2024 is $30 billion, an increase of up to 15%. This is the largest budget request in the service's history, and it continues the streak of budget increases in recent years, with budget increases of 13% in fiscal 2022 and 46% in fiscal 2023. Looking ahead, the US military may rely on high military spending to continuously enhance the capabilities of space combat units in terms of force projection, operational command, intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and early warning, and target attack, so as to further open up its operational superiority over potential adversaries. Judging from the information disclosed by the US Department of Defense, the overall budget request for the US Department of Defense in space for fiscal year 2024 is the largest in history, and its focus is reflected in space capabilities, resilient space architecture, and space command and control. Specifically, in terms of space-based missile early warning systems, the focus is on the Next Generation High Altitude Persistent Infrared Program (OPIR), Resilient Missile Warning and Missile Tracking (MW/MT) and ground systems, and in the field of satellite communications (SATCOM), the focus is on improving the security/survivability/anti-jamming capabilities of protected tactical, broadband and narrowband satellites, and actively developing the Warhead Augmented Space Architecture (PWSA) proposed by the US Space Development Agency (SDA).
According to the report, the US military recently announced a plan for the stationing of the Space Force, which involves a number of newly formed units and a number of command structures, reflecting the continuous expansion of the combat strength of the US Space Force. According to an announcement issued by the US Department of the Air Force, the 11th "Delta Force" of the US Space Force is responsible for the space force's test site management and actual combat training, and its station is initially set at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The base has been used by the U.S. military as a space operations training ground in the past. The U.S. Space Force's 12th Delta Force is responsible for the testing and evaluation of space assets and is based at Shriever Space Force Base in Colorado.
In addition, the 74th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Squadron, established in November 2022 to provide customized threat analysis and related intelligence products for tactical operations in space, is based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado. This year's new 75th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Squadron, which is responsible for providing intelligence services for the joint force's kinetic and nonkinetic target strikes, is also based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado.
Doug Lamborn, chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the US House Armed Services Committee, said that the United States will add 500 National Guard personnel in Colorado to provide vigilance and security services for the Space Force base. According to the US media, Alabama is competing with Colorado to become the final location of the Space Force Command, and Colorado has become a veritable "space state". At present, the Space Operations Command, the National Space Defense Center, and the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 12th, and 15th "Delta Forces" are stationed here.
On December 28, 2023, the U.S. company SpaceX used the Falcon Heavy rocket to send the U.S. military's X-37B "Orbital Experimental Vehicle" into space. This is the seventh mission of the X-37B and the first launch of the X-37B by the heavy rocket. The name of the mysterious X-37B has long been widely known to the public, but due to the strict secrecy of the US military, the outside world still knows very little about the performance parameters of the X-37B.
Unlike previous missions in low orbit, the launch used a rocket with a much higher carrying capacity – purportedly sent into a higher orbit that analysts believe may be geosynchronous orbit. The U.S. Space Force previously issued a statement saying that the vehicle will conduct a wide range of test and experimental objectives, including operating the reusable space shuttle in a new orbital state, testing future space domain perception technology and investigating the impact of radiation on materials provided by NASA. According to the analysis, the X-37B has added an additional service module in order to go to a higher orbit to carry out the mission, and it is very likely to carry out the high-orbit space situational awareness mission and monitor the satellites of other countries.
The X-37B aircraft went to a high orbit for the first time to carry out a mission, which attracted attention
Third, the United States will carry out comprehensive reform in various branches of the armed forces
At the "War Symposium" organized by the US Air Force and Space Force Association in mid-February this year, US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall announced that the Air Department will soon launch a reorganization program called "Reoptimize for Great Power Competition" to improve the overall combat readiness of the Air Force and Space Force and "ensure that they have the right capabilities to fight their adversaries." For the U.S. Air Force, this is the most significant reform it has undertaken since the beginning of the 21st century. In fact, this drastic reform of the US Air Force Department has been preparing for quite some time. In September 2023, Kendall announced for the first time that he would carry out reforms and optimizations to comprehensively promote the transformation of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force. The U.S. Air Force's re-optimization focuses more on the internal organizational structure, that is, to adjust the organizational structure and process management to change the way it organizes, trains, equips and performs its missions, so as to "deter and defeat other countries".
At the same time, multi-domain operations and joint operations will also become a direction for the US Space Force to strengthen its construction. On January 8, 2024, the U.S. Army released a memo titled "The U.S. Army's Space Vision in Support of Multi-Domain Operations." The memo states that the U.S. Army will integrate the space capabilities of the joint forces and allied forces and develop technology to "intercept" adversary space systems to support ground force commanders and defend the security of the United States and its allies. Space capabilities have long been seen as an aid to forces on the ground, in the air, and at sea, and the Army's vision for space envisions the potential for space systems to be targets in their own right. "The next war the Army faces will be a multi-domain war, and the success or failure of space operations will depend on the success or failure of its ground operations," the memo said. Space is growing in importance and has become an effective tool for army warfare.
U.S. Army soldiers support the Space Force during the exercise
In recent years, the US military has continued to carry out a series of exercises and trainings such as "Schriever," "Space Flag," and "Global Sentinel," accelerated the formation of actual combat capabilities in space attack and defense, and engaged in an arms race on a large scale. A series of actions by the US Space Force will have a major impact on the security and development of the world's space domain in the future, and whether the future of space can maintain the relatively stable situation that it is currently showing will be answered by time.