{"id":885,"date":"2025-01-18T08:18:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T08:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=885"},"modified":"2025-01-01T18:24:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T18:24:31","slug":"us-space-force-needs-plan-funding-to-counter-chinas-rapid-space-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=885","title":{"rendered":"US Space Force needs plan, funding to counter China\u2019s rapid space growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0<\/span>Courtney\u00a0Albon<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In 2012, China had less than 100 satellites in orbit. Last month, the country launched its 1,000th spacecraft.<\/p>\n

That milestone, according to the U.S. Space Force\u2019s top intelligence officer, demonstrates the evolution and growth China\u2019s space enterprise has undergone in the last decade. But for the Defense Department, the concern is as much about\u00a0the mission of the spacecraft its adversary is operating<\/a>\u00a0as it is about the number of satellites.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose satellites are meant to sense, decide and track this force. And with extensively long shot ranges, they have created a formidable weapons engagement zone in the Pacific,\u201d Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Intelligence Maj. Gen. Gregory Gagnon said Oct. 16 at the Association of the U.S. Army\u2019s annual conference in Washington.<\/p>\n

Gagnon earlier this year described the rapid buildup of the People\u2019s Liberation Army\u2019s space capabilities as a \u201cstrategic breakout<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn adversary arming like this is profoundly concerning,\u201d he said in May at a Mitchell Institute event.<\/p>\n

For the Space Force, countering China\u2019s advancements in space is a mission in and of itself, Gagnon told Defense News in an interview on the sidelines of AUSA. The service will need more funding to build the satellites and sensors that can see, track and respond to the PLA\u2019s growing in-orbit fleet, he said. It will also need to craft a clear operational vision from the service that the joint force and international partners can coalesce around.<\/p>\n

While the Space Force has made progress in recent years articulating its role within DOD and building partners with industry, the service can only move fast if it has funding to maintain existing capabilities and support new missions, Gagnon said. Nearly half of the Space Force\u2019s\u00a0$30 billion budget<\/a>\u00a0funds \u201cjoint force enablers\u201d like positioning, navigation and timing, missile warning and satellite communications that are critical to operations across the land, sea and air domains.<\/p>\n

The service needs more funding to\u00a0maintain those capabilities<\/a>, Gagnon said, but if it\u2019s going to protect against and respond to aggression from adversaries like China, it needs to expand its space domain awareness and counter-space systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to change the architectures and satellites we use today to make them more resilient and effective. But in addition to that, we have to add new missions,\u201d he said. \u201cThe aerospace forces of the PLA want to attack our capabilities in space. It\u2019s part of their operational design and doctrine and we expect that they will do it. That\u2019s why they\u2019re building those weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air Force and Space Force leaders have been pushing for the service to have a larger share of the Pentagon\u2019s budget. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Defense News in June that the service\u2019s funding will need to double or triple in the coming years to support demand for space capabilities.<\/p>\n

To garner more support from within DOD for its funding needs, the Space Force is drafting a more detailed \u201cNorth Star\u201d plan for how it will contribute to the joint fight over the next 10 to 15 years, Gagnon said. That force design work is happening now and will soon be led by the new Space Futures Command.<\/p>\n

The plan will be informed by requirements from the other military services and will lay out what resources and capabilities the Space Force will need to meet those demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need that North Star, that plan, written so that they can see what our plan is and then be an advocate for us to gain additional money to make that a reality,\u201d Gagnon said.<\/p>\n

Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations, told Defense News this summer that the first iteration of that plan should be completed in the fall of 2025.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: A Long March-4C rocket carrying China’s Yaogan-31 remote sensing satellites lifts off from the country’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in 2021. (STR\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Courtney\u00a0Albon In 2012, China had less than 100 satellites in orbit. Last month, the country launched its 1,000th spacecraft. That milestone, according to the U.S. Space Force\u2019s top intelligence officer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,40],"tags":[31,69],"class_list":["post-885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-opinions","category-space","tag-china","tag-us-space-force"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/us-space-force-china.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=885"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1260,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885\/revisions\/1260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}