Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback, director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) at the U.S. Space Force said the service branch is in need of tools to validate if hostile satellites from benign technologies, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.
"We need something that gives us confirmation and confidence to say: ‘This just happened and this is who did it," said Lauderback. “We need some persistence on orbit and sensors so we can make a more confident call in a faster manner," she added.
Lauderback noted the military service should protect U.S. satellites from adversary technologies built by Russia and China such as laser weapons and jammers.
"Militaries don’t just develop these for deterrence. I think they have an idea they want to use this in the future."
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe said the Space Force intends to build a national space intelligence center to secure U.S. space systems from anti-satellite weaponry. According to the report, the service branch plans to train intelligence analysts in support of the facility.
