To protect against threats from Russia and China, U.S. Space Command needs more advanced tools to track what\u2019s happening in space as well as satellites that can move freely in the domain by 2027, according to its commander, Gen. Stephen Whiting.<\/p>\n
Those capabilities\u00a0will be crucial to military operations, Whiting said, as both Russia and China have tested and built weapons that could threaten U.S. space operations in the near future. He pointed specifically to Russia\u2019s development of a nuclear space weapon and China\u2019s recent launch mishaps that have created a cloud of debris in low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must heed the clear signals from our strategic competitors,\u201d Whiting said Wednesday in a speech at the Defence Space Conference in London. \u201cWhen someone tells you what they are preparing to do, believe them. We must prepare accordingly to safeguard our collective interests in space.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Space Force, which is responsible for developing and buying capabilities to meet Space Command requirements, has a number of efforts underway to help operators better characterize and track objects in orbit \u2014 whether it\u2019s a debris field or an adversary satellite or weapon. The service today relies on the more than 50-year-old Space Defense Operations Center for this mission but plans to replace that capability by the end of next year.<\/p>\n
On the maneuverability side,\u00a0the service is crafting a strategy\u00a0for how it will build and buy the capabilities needed to support more dynamic space operations. That could mean partnering with commercial companies to refuel a spacecraft or provide a propulsion boost that allows it to travel into non-standard orbits to track an enemy satellite. Space Systems Command, the Space Force\u2019s primary acquisition hub, is planning a refueling demonstration in 2026.<\/p>\n
Whiting said current space tracking systems are \u201cinsufficient\u201d for future conflicts with countries who have advanced military space capabilities. And while industry has demonstrated some promising capabilities for dynamic space operations, he said the military needs such systems as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need these systems delivered on accelerated timelines, at scale,\u201d he said. \u201cNow is the time for all of us to work together across our nations and organizations to identify solutions that deliver national capability by 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To protect against threats from Russia and China, U.S. Space Command needs more advanced tools to track what\u2019s happening in space as well as satellites that can move freely in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-us-space-force"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-SPACE-FORCE-2027.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898","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=898"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1539,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions\/1539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}