Saltzman: China’s ASAT Test Was ‘Pivot Point’ in Space Operations

Jan. 13, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Then-Lt. Col. B. Chance Saltzman was the commander of the 614th Space Operations Squadron, working at what was then called the Joint Space Operations Center at today’s Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.

The JSpOC was less than two years old, still “a nascent capability,” recalled Saltzman, now the Chief of Space Operations. “We were in a very small room, in the third floor of the 14th Air Force headquarters … and our job was to collect statuses, mostly the space domain awareness—we called it space situational awareness back then—about what’s going on in orbit.”

On Jan. 11, 2007, as the command was monitor a Chinese anti-satellite test—“To be honest, I think there was this feeling that, you know, it was just going to be a test”— and then in happened. “I remember very clearly, the radar operator who’s looking at his chat rooms connected to the ground radars spread around the world, and he looked back over his shoulder and he said, ‘We have multiple headcount.’ And that’s space domain awareness talk for ‘One object in space just became many objects in space.’”

Instead of a test, it had been a demonstration of capability: “a destructive test that created a debris field,” Saltzman recalled during a pre-recorded conversation shared by the Space Force Association.

China’s destruction of one of its own weather satellites by means of a modified ballistic missile created the largest-ever debris field in space, with more than 3,000 trackable pieces. More than 15 years later, the International Space Station was forced to maneuver to avoid some of that debris last year, a reminder of its lasting impact.

“I just remember vividly the feeling that this is a pivot point in the space community and in space operations, and that we’re going have to look differently about how we operate space from that day on,” Saltzman recalled. “And for those of us that are neck deep in the business, we did have to think differently from that day on.”

That “pivot point,” as Saltzman called it, eventually led to the creation of the Space Force, as the Pentagon, Congress, and presidential administrations came to understand that “the threats are bad enough, our dependencies on space are strong enough, that we’re going to have to focus differently and it made sense to build the service,” Saltzman said.

Now, a little over three years after the USSF’s creation, the service is still evolving, both in how it deals with China and with such anti-satellite tests.

The Pentagon has grown increasingly concerned about China’s ambitious military space program, and concerns about a new “space race” are growing. China hasn’t carried out a publicly reported destructive ASAT test since 2007, but it has experimented with other offensive capabilities, moving close to other satellites and employing a robotic arm designed to grab and disrupt other satellites.

Russia demonstrated its destructive ASAT capability in November 2021, creating another large debris field of more than 1,500 trackable pieces. And since its invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Russia has voiced threats against Western satellites aiding Ukraine’s war effort, potentially making commercial satellites into targets as well.

“It’s a dynamic security environment,” Saltzman said. “So you can never just sit back and say, ‘OK, we got this figured out.’ We’ve got to continually monitor how we respond, what the threats are, how space is being used, from the tactical level and at the strategic level.”

And just as the Chinese test in 2007 proved to be a critical moment in space history, Saltzman hinted that the Russian war on Ukraine could also prove hugely consequential for the future.

“What we’re observing is the criticality of space in modern warfare,” Saltzman said. “ … The ability to deny single satellite capabilities became very obvious, very early in this conflict. The ability to cyberattack ground networks that facilitate space capabilities became very obvious. Those vulnerabilities became obvious early in the conflict. And then the commercial augmentation of space capabilities showed its merits. And we all know about Starlink’s capabilities and the fact that it’s disaggregated, more than 1,000 satellites, creating this layer of satellite communications is much tougher to target. And so it’s proven out to be a more resilient architecture.

“And so we’ve got to take all that in,” Saltzman said. “Space is critical. Adversaries are going to attack space. It’s critical on the ground as well as in space, and a disaggregated architecture becomes more resilient and that matters in terms of creating combat capability.”

Kendall Says China’s Long Reach is Pushing Air Force Toward New Stealth Tankers

Jan. 13, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

China’s growing reach with precision missiles means the Air Force must shift away from traditional tankers and cargo aircraft towards stealthy ones, Secretary Frank Kendall said Jan. 11.

Speaking in a webinar with the Council on Foreign Relations, Kendall said “the traditional route” of turning a commercial aircraft like the DC-10 or 767 into a tanker or cargo plane, or even designing a custom aircraft like the C-17 without a “high premium on survivability” will no longer meet USAF’s needs.

“The threat’s taking that freedom away from us,” he said. Adversaries like China are able to track and shoot U.S. aircraft from increasingly long ranges, so mobility aircraft must be designed with survivability in mind, he said.

Kendall also said the forthcoming 2024 budget submission will build new roadmaps for mobility, as well as for electronic warfare—which he said has been long “neglected” by the service—and new munitions, of which he said there are many concepts being explored. The munitions roadmap “includes the production capacity we need, as well as the right suite of systems for the targets we’re going to have to deal with. And the way we’re going to have to deal with them is important.”

The Air Force is taking an early look at blended wing body aircraft concepts for cargo and transport roles, but “that doesn’t exist in the commercial world yet,” so there’re no civil aircraft the Air Force can adapt to future mobility needs, Kendall noted.

“It may [exist] at some point,” he said, “but it doesn’t yet, so we are doing some early design work on that, possibly moving towards a prototype as a DOD program. But there’s more to come on that; that’s a work in progress.”

Although the Air Force will continue to recapitalize its aging tankers by continuing “core tanker modernization,” Kendall said the service will “have to move beyond that to the next generation. And it’s going to have to survive in an environment the current fleet hasn’t had to work [in].”

In October, the Air Force said it would investigate blended wing body aircraft as part of an effort to develop more efficient and environmentally-friendly aircraft, including tankers. The service’s Climate Action Plan, released Oct. 5, said USAF plans to conduct a full-scale test of a BWB aircraft by 2027, in collaboration with the Defense Innovation Unit. The DIU put out a request for information to industry on BWB concepts in July 2022.

The climate plan said such designs could be “transformative” of the Air Force’s fleet, reducing fuel usage by 30 percent. BWBs—essentially flying wings like the Air Force’s B-2 and B-21 bombers—also offer the advantage of having a slim profile and an inherently smaller radar cross section than traditional cylinder-and-wing aircraft, particularly if designers eliminate vertical control surfaces.

It’s not clear if the Air Force will simply skip the so-called “bridge tanker” program following its KC-46 buy of 179 aircraft, and Kendall did not say USAF would abandon that program. However, he has on multiple occasions warned that the Air Force may not see a business case to opening up the next buy of conventional tankers to competition. Lockheed Martin has partnered with Airbus to offer the LMXT tanker for the bridge tanker, based on the KC-30 Multi-Role Tanker Transport.

Report: Air Force Makes Progress on ABMS with Plans for Two Lines of Effort

Jan. 13, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The Department of the Air Force is making strides on its contribution to the Department of Defense’s ambitious joint all-domain command and control effort, according to a report from the top government watchdog released Jan. 13.

However, questions remain about whether the Air Force will properly make use of its new capabilities, the study from the Government Accountability Office stated.

As part of the DOD’s JADC2 effort to connect sensors, battle managers, and shooters across the globe, the Air Force is developing the Advanced Battle Management System—ABMS was initially planned as the successor to the E-8 JSTARS aircraft but is now envisioned as a network of sensors and connected technologies intended to promote rapid data sharing among a plethora of weapon systems.

In this latest report, the GAO praised the Air Force for its progress on ABMS and JADC2 since 2020, when the agency charged the service with needing to decide what it wanted AMBS to do and then develop the technology and estimate the cost accordingly.

The watchdog was less positive about the broader Department of Defense, though, charging that its vision of JADC2 was still too vague and effort lacked uniformity among the services.

So far, the Air Force has defined two ABMS efforts. The first, known as Capability Release 1, is aimed at enabling the new F-35 Lightning II fighter to connect with command and control centers, including by turning airborne platforms such as the KC-46 Pegasus tanker into a data link.

CR-1 was originally intended to include the F-22 Raptor as well, allowing the F-35 and F-22 to share data, which they currently cannot do because of differences in their communication systems.

But plans to integrate the F-22 were scrapped, the GAO report noted, in part because of the Air Force’s plans to move on from the fighter in favor of the still-in-development Next Generation Air Dominance platform. Now, the Air Force hopes to deliver two prototypes to be installed on KC-46s in 2024, the report noted.

The Air Force also plans to field a new Could-Based Command and Control network, known as CBC2, to integrate air defense data to support homeland defense. Previously dubbed Capability Release 2, the system will aggregate and feed data to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), including from commercial sources, and replace older and disparate systems.

“Fielding CBC2 will help transform how we share data across the joint force,” Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, said in a recent news release.

The department took a significant step forward in that effort Jan. 9, awarding contractor SAIC a $112 million deal for “microservice applications and digital engineering tools for tactical C2 kill chains” as part of CBC2.

“The program is using modern agile software methodologies to revolutionize how the DAF approaches battle management in the future,” Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey, the Department of the Air Force’s program executive officer for command, control, communications, and battle management, said in a statement. “ABMS will continue to partner with defense contractors, commercial companies and cloud service providers to leverage the best technology for cloud computing, data analytics, and communications.”

The GAO report noted that the Air Force plans to develop initial capabilities for CBC2 in late 2023, but is still in the process of identifying those capabilities—highlighting just some of the work the Air Force still has to do.

“In April 2020, GAO recommended the Air Force develop a plan to mature technologies, develop a cost estimate, and conduct an affordability analysis for ABMS. DOD concurred. The Air Force is taking steps to address the recommendations—through acquisition and planning documents—but needs to do more to fully address them,” the GAO concluded.

However, the report presented a more critical view of the Defense Department’s collective JADC2 effort, arguing that the Pentagon still needs to figure out how to turn an amorphous concept into something more tangible.

“While DOD has made progress in JADC2 planning, it has not yet identified which existing systems will contribute to JADC2 goals or what future capabilities need to be developed,” the report said.

According to the GAO, the lack of an overarching vision has created additional problems by allowing services to work on solving their own connectivity and data issues under the guise of JADC2 instead of developing a military-wide approach.

“The military departments started prioritizing which JADC2-related capabilities to develop based on their own needs, which do not necessarily align with DOD’s highest priorities,” the report said.

Air Force Reveals New Jolly Green IIs Made First Combat Saves

Jan. 12, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

An HH-60W Jolly Green II—the Air Force’s new combat rescue helicopter—and its crew has been credited with the type’s first “saves” in hostile conditions overseas and on its first operational deployment, the service said, but details of the rescues are being withheld because of operational sensitivity.

Guardian Angels of the 347th Rescue Group, operating with HH-60Ws and HC-130Js, rescued two U.S. service members from a “battlefield” in the Horn of Africa in late December, the Air Force said in a release.

The aircraft made its first overseas deployment to the Horn of Africa region in mid-September 2022, shortly after declaring initial operational capability, but the Air Force has declined to say where they went or where specifically they were operating at the time of the saves, other than East Africa. The Air Force is known to operate remotely piloted aircraft like the MQ-9 Reaper and other assets out of a base in Djibouti.

“Even in the vast expanses of Africa, this combined team was able to pull a critical patient from the battlefield with the Air Force’s newest rescue vehicle and place them in the hands of skilled trauma surgeons, ultimately saving two lives,” Lt. Col Thaddeus Ronnau, commander of the Personnel Recovery Task Force and regional director of the Joint Personnel Recovery Center, said in a statement.

The Air Force said alert crews were “activated during the pre-dawn hours and responded quicker than the required theater response times. The initial pickup of the injured was quick, and the team was in and out of the area without incident. They then immediately made for the nearest medical facility for trauma surgery while the pararescuemen performed their own stabilizing emergency care in the aircraft’s cabin. The HC-130J were then called to swiftly move the most seriously wounded member to another location for further treatment. Both lives were saved.”

Ronnau said that by “continuously working to ensure that ‘Jack’s worst day won’t be his last,’ these members of the rescue family upheld the highest virtues of the Code of the Air Rescueman and demonstrated ‘these things we do that others may live.’”

The PRTF is manned, trained ,and equipped to rapidly respond to battlefield situations “to return American, allied and partner forces to friendly control,” Ronnau said. The team is equipped to “travel great distances and fight their way in and out if necessary.”

The Air Force would only say the incident took place “outside the wire in the Horn of Africa.” The action represents the HH-60W’s “first real-world casualty evacuation operation in the African area of responsibility.” The aircraft and personnel were operating under the 449th Air Expeditionary Group.

The Air Force has recently released images of the HH-60Ws performing rescue training exercises in undisclosed locations in Africa. One showed a Jolly Green II of the 41st Rescue Squadron, out of Moody Air Force Base, Ga., in exercises with crew from the USS Hershel Williams, an expeditionary sea base operating in the region. The Dec. 31, 2022 image was labeled as being taken in the Indian Ocean.

Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 2nd Class Kieara Dexter, from Opelika, Ala., directs an HH-60W helicopter, assigned to the 41st Rescue Squadron, from Moody Air Force Base, as it approaches the flight deck of the Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary sea base U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Conner D. Blake/Released

U.S. Navy Sailors depart the landing zone of an HH-60W helicopter, assigned to the 41st Rescue Squadron, from Moody Air Force Base, during flight operations on the flight deck of the Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary sea base USS Hershel “Woody” Williams (ESB 4), Dec. 31, 2022. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Conner D. Blake/Released

The Air Force said the ability to recover “isolated and/or injured persons is a force multiplier that transcends the tactical to the operational and strategic levels,” by preserving “critical resources” and “sustaining the morale, cohesion, and fighting capability of joint and friendly forces.”

However, the Air Force has moved to reduce its buy of the HH-60W from a planned force of 119 aircraft to only 75 aircraft, saying it will have to devise new ways of conducting combat search and rescue in the future, when downed or injured service members are likely to be beyond the practical range of the aircraft and protective force elements.

Gen. Mark D. Kelly, head of Air Combat Command, has said that ACC is studying its future CSAR requirements and is looking at new options beyond the HH-60W.

These could include acquiring more CV-22 Ospreys or a more developed version of Agility Prime, a service prototyping program looking at autonomous, uncrewed, electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that could pick up a downed aircrew member. Kelly has said the HH-60W would likely be inadequate for operations in the far east of the Pacific theater under contested conditions.

The Jolly Green II, an upgraded version of the MH-60 Pave Hawk, has a larger cabin, more sensors, improved communications, more weapons and more armor than its predecessor, with nearly double the range.

Saltzman Keeps His Focus on Developing Operational Concepts and Tactics

Jan. 12, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

With the Space Force now in its fourth year of existence, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman wants to develop the service’s essential warfighting processes—and make sure Guardians can perfect them through practice.

In a pre-recorded interview with the Space Force Association streamed Jan. 12, Saltzman listed fielding “resilient, ready, combat-credible forces” as his top priority.

“We have to build the infrastructure and the processes and procedures to make sure [Guardians have] got what they need,” he said. “Whether it’s the test and training infrastructure, simulators that can replicate adversary threats and the interactions you would get, multiple units working together to solve operational challenges—all of that needs to take place before we get into an actual conflict, so that our operators are fully ready. That’s really the priority that I’m going after.”

Watching Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which bogged down despite Russia’s superior forces and technology, reinforced the importance of high-quality training and tactics, Saltzman said. “The side that practices the best will have an advantage early in the conflict,” Saltzman said. “So that’s what I want to do, make sure we have the skills and the experience on day one of the conflict.”

Systems and technology count a lot, but if that’s the sole focus, he added, “you only [have] half the equation.”

The Space Force needs to develop and validate its approach to combat and dominating in the heavens. “It starts with operational concepts,” Saltzman said. “You say, how is it that we will control the space domain so that we can do what we want to do with space assets, achieve the effects that we want to achieve, while denying the adversary the ability to use their space capabilities to target ground forces and maritime forces and air forces? That’s the classic definition of control of the domain.”

The Space Force has a capstone doctrinal document, “Spacepower,” and a commander’s strategic plan for Space Operations Command. But the service is still in the process of fleshing out and codifying its operational concepts. And while control of the domain remains the goal, much like the Air Force seeks air superiority, there are specifics that need to be considered in space, Saltzman said.

“What’s the plan? And we have to test those [concepts] to make sure we don’t create debris fields,” Saltzman said. “We’re trying to be responsible users in space, but we still have to be able to disrupt an adversary. So how do you do that?”

Once those core concepts are finalized, he added, “you start to look at the systems you have and build the tactics, techniques, and procedures that the operators will need to employ.”

TTPs, as those considerations are often called, cover such basic considerations as “How do I move satellite communications beams? How do I detect a rendezvous proximity opposite to what an adversary is trying to do? How do I do that in real time?” Saltzman said.

And while those tactics can be developed in theory, they also need to be rigorously tested in a way that proves they work, Saltzman said. That’s why investing in test and training infrastructure is so essential.

“You have to practice it on a range where you can control all the inputs,” Saltzman explained. “You have to practice it against what we would call an opposition force—aggressors—to use the vernacular, because it’s a thinking adversary, and [the fight] is going to be dynamic. How do your operators respond in that dynamic adversarial set of conditions?”

Building the range of skills and experience necessary to optimize the Space Force will take time. Saltzman is eager for Guardians to test and train their skills inside the Space Force, but he also wants them to capture experience outside the service’s bounds.

“I want to make sure that when you come into the Space Force, your skills and your knowledge of technology, for example, doesn’t atrophy simply because you’re part of the military now,” Saltzman said. One way to do that is to forge deeper partnerships with industry and academia to help ensure Guardians stay “current on what the state of the world is, the state of the art is in terms of technology and leading edge capabilities.”

That might entail short tours of duty in industry, where they can be exposed to what the commercial sector is doing. “And tjhen they come back in and bring that knowledge with them,” Saltzman said. “So we keep things fresh inside the Space Force.”

New Rules for Vaccine Refusers After DOD Lifts Its COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

Jan. 12, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Thousands of Airmen and Guardians who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 no longer have to get the shots—and those who faced disciplinary action for failing to get vaccinated will have their records wiped clean.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III formally rescinded the Pentagon’s vaccination requirement Jan. 10, as required by the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act passed late last year. The change ends more than 16 months of angst since the policy was first announced in August 2021. Active-duty Airmen were given less than two months and reservists less than four to get the vaccines.

More than 95 percent of Airmen and Guardians met the deadlines, and according to the Department of the Air Force’s most recent data, 97.6 percent of the total force, or more than 478,000 members, are fully vaccinated.

Still, that leaves more than 11,000 Airmen and Guardians not fully vaccinated. While thousands of service members applied for medical, religious, or administrative accommodations to the requirement, only 1,069 members won approvals.

Under Austin’s orders, all waiver requests still pending will be dropped.

Vaccine refusers whose accommodation requests were denied were given five days to start the vaccination process, file an appeal, or request to separate or retire. For those whose appeals were denied, the five-day clock restarted. Ultimately, 834 were booted for refusing the vaccine, according to Air Force figures.

Commanders also “retained the full range of disciplinary options available to them,” Air Force spokeswoman Rose Riley told Air & Space Forces Magazine, including issuing administrative paperwork, nonjudicial punishment, or referral of court-martial charges.

Exactly how many Airmen and Guardians received such punishments is unclear—Riley said the department does not track that data at a DAF level.

Any Airman or Guardian negative paperwork filed against those seeking special accommodations will now be removed. In his memo, Austin instructed the military departments to “update the records of such individuals to remove any adverse actions solely associated with denials of such [accommodation] requests, including letters of reprimand.”

The Air Force stopped imposing such punishments months ago. In July, a federal judge in Ohio blocked the DAF from taking disciplinary action against Airmen and Guardians seeking a religious accommodation, and a panel of judges upheld that ruling in November.

By law, all of those kicked out received at least a general discharge under honorable conditions, with some receiving an honorable discharge. The difference between the two carries implications for the kinds of benefits separated Airmen can take advantage of. While those with a general discharge can usually still receive medical benefits and home loans from the VA, they do not have access to the educational benefits from the GI Bill. And those with a general discharge may also be prevented from being able to reenlist.

The Airmen and Guardians booted from service for refusing the vaccine will be allowed to “petition their Military Department’s Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military or Naval Records to individually request a correction to their personnel records, including records regarding the characterization of their discharge,” Austin wrote in his memo. Such changes, however, are not guaranteed.

For those still in the service, being unvaccinated will no longer result in punishment—but could still carry implications for their careers. Austin specified in his memo that commanders will still be able to consider the “immunization status of personnel in making deployment, assignment, and other operational decisions.”

“We have a responsibility for the health and welfare of our forces. And so … depending on the situation and the circumstances, it’s incumbent on commanders to to ensure that they’re doing what they need to do,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told reporters Jan. 12.

US and Japan Agree to Protect Each Other in Space, Citing Chinese Threat

Jan. 12, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. and Japan are expanding their security commitment into space as part of a series of new actions aimed at bolstering the countries’ defenses against China and other threats in the Pacific.

U.S. officials said “attacks to, from, or within space” could lead to the invocation of Article V of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, in which the two countries could “act to meet the common danger” if either country is attacked on Japanese territory.

During a joint press conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa, and Japanese Defense Hamada Yasukazu, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said space attacks present “a clear challenge,” necessitating the move to bolster the countries’ Article V commitments into space.

In their remarks, the Japanese officials presented a striking view of China as a threat to the world order that must be countered. Japan adopted a pacifist military policy following World War II, but now, both the U.S. and Japan see China as a possible military foe. Citing Japan’s new national security strategy and the fall release of the U.S. National Defense Strategy which describes China as America’s “pacing” challenge, leaders from both countries said their interests were firmly aligned.

“China presents an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge,” Hayashi said. “Its foreign policy to recreate international order to serve its self-interest is a grave concern for the Japan-U.S. alliance and for the whole of the international community.”

Japan’s new national security strategy will massively increase defense spending to two percent of gross domestic product and develop new “counterstrike” capabilities. Japan’s southernmost tip lies around 100 miles from Taiwan, the self-governing island Chinese leaders aim to unite with the mainland. A recent series of wargames by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that Japan would quickly be drawn into a conflict over Taiwan if America came to Taipei’s aid.

Austin said recent Chinese behavior in the region was “provocative,” with increased military flights and naval operations over the median line of the Taiwan Strait as part of a “new normal.” China also recently intercepted a U.S. Air Force RC-135 over the South China Sea in what the U.S. military said was an unsafe manner, an action Austin condemned during his press conference.

Hayashi said that America and Japan’s recent military strategies are “based on the increasingly severe security environment” and cited North Korea and Russia, in addition to China, as growing threats to international order.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio will meet at the White House on Jan. 13. Austin welcomed Hamada to the Pentagon on Jan. 12.

“There is clear strategic alignment between the visions of President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida,” Austin said.

In recent months, Japan has been drawn into China’s and North Korea’s recent shows of military force, and Japan has unresolved territorial claims with Russia. China’s recent moves surrounding Taiwan involved missiles falling into Japan’s exclusive economic zone in August. In October, a North Korean ballistic missile flew over the Japanese mainland for the first time in five years.

China is bolstering its military space program and has tested anti-satellite weapons as recently as 2007. Russia, meanwhile, has issued public threats against U.S. and Western satellites being used to help Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion. U.S. military leaders have warned that space assets would likely be targeted in future conflicts.

“China is absolutely developing a wide array of counterspace and antisatellite capabilities that could be used in a future conflict,” Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation, which promotes the peaceful use of space, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “I think that, coupled with the prevalence of space capabilities in the current Ukraine conflict has created concerns in Tokyo and Washington that a future conflict with China may involve attacks in satellites.”

Leaders from Japan and the U.S. said the move to include space as part of Article V was an important new deterrent.

“The outer space component of this is important to the security and prosperity of our alliance,” Blinken said. “That is significant.”

Weeden said the move appeared aimed at dissuading China from viewing an attack on a U.S. or Japanese satellite as more permissible than other military action.

“I would interpret this as a signal to Beijing that Tokyo and Washington consider attacks on their military satellites in the same vein as attacks on military aircraft or ships,” Weeden, a former Air Force space operations and ICBM officer, said.

In addition to new space cooperation, the U.S. will deploy MQ-9 Reapers to Kanoya Air Base, a Japanese base, to “increase maritime domain awareness” in the East China Sea, according to the DOD.

The U.S. will also upgrade its force posture in Japan, stationing a Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) there, which will have intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and anti-ship capabilities, according to the Pentagon. It will be reorganized from the current 12th Artillery Regiment into the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment.

The DOD also said Japan and the U.S. “committed to expand joint/shared use of U.S. and Japanese facilities,” though there were no explicit pledges to increase the ability for U.S. forces to operate from Japanese bases.

Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said no firm plans about basing have been set, though he noted during a press briefing on Jan. 12 that the U.S. military wants to take “advantage of opportunities to be able to position forces throughout the Indo-Pacific region in a distributed way that provides us with agility, flexibility, and maneuverability to be able to respond to any regional threats.”

The Air Force has looked to disperse its aircraft to more bases as part of the Agile Combat Employment doctrine. The CSIS report on its wargames recommended the U.S. “fortify and expand” air bases in Japan so U.S. aircraft could continue operating in a conflict with China to “dilute the effects of missile attacks” to American aircraft on the ground.

“We want to be effective, and we do need to expand and normalize training at distributed air bases that exist throughout Japan,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and the former vice commander of Pacific Air Forces. “That would complicate any kind of a contingency involving a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.”

New Report, Leaders Detail How the US Can Stay Ahead of China in Space Race

Jan. 12, 2023 | By Christopher Prawdzik

Accelerating commercial cooperation and leveraging resources are crucial to competing with China in a new space race, according to Air Force Maj. Gen. John M. Olson, mobilization assistant to the chief of Space Operations at U.S. Space Force.

Olson’s remarks came during a National Defense Industrial Association discussion Jan. 11 regarding a report on the state of the space industrial base.” The report’s three authors were joined on a panel by Olson, Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Steven Butow, and Air Force Col. Eric Felt, as they discussed components of the strategic vision laid out in the report and how to best leverage relationships among government and industry.

Based on input from more than 250 key government, industry, and academic participants, the report recommends a number of actions. Among these are establishing a “North Star Vision for Space,” a focal point to maintain a competitive advantage with China, and accelerating the licensing process that is hindered by six-decade-old policies. In addition, the report recommends enhancing acquisition of commercially sourced assets for warfighters and strengthening the space industrial base.

“As we look at protecting this planet, it’s clear that we’ve got to get off this planet to do so, and that involves big significant thrust in looking at power production and manufacturing and leveraged use of lunar resources and other resources,” Olson said. “Now we’ve got the technology, now we’ve got the capability, now we’ve got the will, now we’ve got the funding, and I think it’s a matter of an existential race and an existential challenge to drive the significant benefits that come from being a first mover.”

Butow, director of the space portfolio at the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit and commander of the California Air National Guard, emphasized the ambition and competitiveness that China brings to the space race. He warned that the United States must not disadvantage its own economic system because of outdated policies, especially while China continues to innovate.

“If we want to have robust capabilities that are really coupled to the state of the art of technology, we really need to make sure that we’re investing properly in the research and development area,” he said, adding that this includes “prototyping activities that we do with commercial companies, new and old, that are doing really interesting things to give us that competitive advantage in space.”

Felt, director of architecture and integration in the office of the assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration, said his focus has been speed and agility in the acquisition process. Despite bureaucratic hurdles, he said his department looks to maximize efforts in the areas they control.

“I do think we’re going to reach the point where the acquisition process is not the slow part that is keeping us from beating China,” Felt said. “The acquisition part is going to be lean and nimble, and you’re going to look to other things such as the requirements process, [planning, programming, budgeting, and execution] process, that are going to be the limiting factors in how fast we can go.”

Felt also noted assistant secretary for space acquisition Frank Calvelli’s emphasis on speed throughout the acquisition process and how to best compete. One component of this, he said, was the acquisition of smaller systems, which allows warfighters to acquire new technologies more quickly.

“We want to buy those that are useful, and then that sends the right signal to industry as to what our value function is,” Felt said. “And then they can respond much faster than the government can to help fulfill our future needs and make sure we maintain a technology edge against China.”

Olson also said speed was critical when it comes to funding and how the National Defense Authorization Act can contribute to this expansive effort, which is constantly looking for new industry partners while keeping on top of advances in technology.

“We’ve adopted a policy of: ‘Exploit what we have; buy what we can; and only build what we must,’” he said. “And I think that simply and effectively implements, leverages that which is within our control, driving creativity, driving that innovation within the operations and the applications.”

A second panel discussion included industry representatives to add their perspectives on the report and the future of the space race.

Chris Shank, vice president and general manager of air and space programs at Maxar, said discussion of a unified vision for national security in the space environment is extremely important—and the message must be compelling.

“I think there’s an element that Space Force will need to articulate, a similar essence, if you will … I hate to say this, but it is a bumper sticker that we can all memorize and keep in our heads, and that is our North Star,” Shank said. “It’s not lengthy in terms of compelling, and then you have to be persistent about it, you have to communicate it.”

Aaron Dann, a vice president of strategic force programs, payload, and ground systems division at Northrop Grumman Space Systems, said taking an international approach to science and technology is key for the U.S. to maintain its technological lead.

“The research we do crosses borders, and I think [provides the] ability to allow us to better work with our international allies on our defense intelligence programs,” Dann said. “Those are some of the key areas, I think—really leveraging our international partners, alliances, allies, and also looking at our people and how do we grow that talent.”

Richard Klodnicki, president and CEO of Aereti Inc., added that comparisons to the Chinese must be done with an understanding of how they operate.

“Their education system is based on rote memorization, whereas the American [system] is based on early memorization and moving to critical thinking, and so they’re going to be stuck in an environment where they can only show what they’ve memorized and what they stole,” Klodnicki said. “So I caution against trying to compete with China on its field, wherever the United States sets the standards that we want to meet.”

DOD Budget: Will Congress Cut in 2024—or Hold Steady?

Jan. 11, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

After back-to-back years of significant spending increases for defense, Congressional hawks may face stiffer opposition in the year ahead, with pushback from members of both major political parties.

Opposition to defense spending increases from one wing of the Republican Party emerged during the protracted process to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker of the House. To secure the speakership, McCarthy reportedly struck an agreement with about 20 conservative lawmakers that included a commitment to cap discretionary federal spending in the fiscal 2024 budget at 2022 levels.

If McCarthy keeps that commitment, defense spending would have to be cut from $858 billion in 2023 to $782.5 billion, the 2022 level. That’s a cut of more than $75 billion.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a retired Air Force brigadier general now on the House Armed Services Committee, doubts that will happen. In an interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine, Bacon said most Republicans won’t support such a cut.

“There is a small group who thinks the military is being overfunded,” Bacon said. “And there’s a perception that there are agencies that [are] not providing value to warfighting and things like that. But it’s a small group out there—and I think the military should always be auditing and trying to find out where it can save money and build efficiencies. But the [vast] majority of Republicans wants to have a strong military.”

A similar split marks the Democrats, where the progressive wing advocates for cuts, while the “Blue Dog” moderate Democrats are closer to Bacon’s position. The group sent a letter to McCarthy on Jan. 10 opposing any reduction in defense spending. Signatories to the letter included Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), both members of the HASC.

Even members from the small group of conservatives who made the deal with McCarthy are trying to push back on the idea that they support defense cuts. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) was among the holdouts against McCarthy through more than a dozen votes for Speaker, but when asked where he stood on defense spending, a staffer noted tweets from Roy sent Jan. 8 in which he said defense cuts were “never discussed” in negotiations with McCarthy. He said whatever cuts are needed to bring overall federal spending back to 2022 levels could come from non-defense agencies.

With Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House, however, deep domestic cuts will be hard, if not impossible, to push through.

Bacon noted how negotiators in recent years have settled on a formula in which “when you add a dollar to defense, you’ve got to add a dollar to nondefense funding, or if you cut a dollar, you’ve got to cut it down on the other side.”

Bacon called that a “terrible concept,” though it has proven necessary to avoid government shutdowns. The Republican holdouts want a return to regular order, where amendments are debated, rather than pushed through without objection, as has been the case with many bills in recent years.

With regular order, “it’s going to be debated on, and I don’t believe cuts to the military would survive a vote,” Bacon said. “And it’s certainly probably not going to survive the Senate.”

Congressional negotiators agreed to add $45 billion to DOD’s budget request for fiscal 2023 on top of a $58 billion plus-up the year before. Such increases passed with bipartisan support, but the potential for an unlikely alliance among conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats could generate a different scenario in 2024 and beyond.

“I suspect after the increases that we’ve done the last few years, we’ll probably be trying to keep spending … at the current budget plus inflation,” Bacon said. “I suspect that will be where we go. I mean, I don’t know that. I’m just one member out of 435. …I do think there’s a desire on our side to cut spending overall. But we’ve got to make sure that we have strong national security.”

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the HASC’s new ranking member after serving as its chair for the past four years, has generally opposed increases over the Biden administration’s request, but ultimately voted for the increase after losing votes to oppose them in committee.

In a fireside chat at the Brookings Institution on Jan. 11, Smith argued that the Pentagon should be able to invest and spend its money efficiently, even without massive increases.

“Overall, the approach should be, let’s look at the budget we have and then what we need to do, and then look at it from a cost-effective manner,” Smith said. “I think part of the problem is … if you look at it and go, ‘We need more money,’ well then, you’re just going to throw more money at it. If you look at it and say ‘This is what you got, make the best of it’—and I’ve used this line many times before—I had a [venture capitalist] tell me one time that he has not yet seen the entity that can’t be cut by 10 percent and get better at what they do. If I say that to anybody at the Pentagon, they [gasp.] … But you need to get into that mindset.”

Smith also pointed to increased investments from allies and partners as a way to boost national security without bulking up the Pentagon’s budget—Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and other NATO countries are all poised to boost their defense budgets in the year ahead.

Air Force and Space Force modernization programs will be on the table as Congress considers the 2024 defense budget plan. In Bacon, a former EC-130H and RC-135 pilot, USAF has an advocate familiar with its challenges.

“The B-21 is desperately needed,” Bacon said. “I think we need over 100 of those things. The B-21 gives us the chance to access any target in the world, through the toughest air defenses. Obviously, we’ve got to keep filling out our F-35 fleet because that’s going to be the dominant fighter in the world. To do any of this you’ve got to have tankers, so we’ve got to get tanker production. And our ICBM fleet is so old now, you cannot extend the life of it. You need to have those 400 ICBMs for deterrence. So I just think for the national security of our country, all these major programs are a must. Not that we want to use them—it gives us deterrence.”

In the delicate balance of funding those programs within a limited budget, Smith argued that Congress needs to help by allowing the Air Force and its sister services to retire aging systems that are costly to maintain and less relevant to future combat, rather than blocking those moves in order to protect bases back home. In particular, Smith cited the Air Force’s efforts to cut B-1 bombers, F-22 fighters, and C-130 cargo aircraft.

“Let’s get rid of the systems the Pentagon wants to get rid of. That is the continuous fight we have,” Bacon said. “You can save a lot of money if we get rid of those systems.”