Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force and a 2023 Wash100 Award winner, recently cautioned that a “subtle form of complacency” could hinder U.S. operations in the space domain.
During his keynote address at the 2023 Space Symposium on Wednesday, Saltzman highlighted the rich history of U.S. activities in space, but warned against resting too comfortably on continuity, success and expertise, the Space Force reported on Wednesday.
“What we have done and how we have done it has worked and worked well, but I fear we think it will work well forever,” said Saltzman.
“The Space Force, our industry partners, our allies and inter-agency teammates must collectively pivot to new ways of doing business to keep up with the new operating environment,” he said.
Currently, said Saltzman, space is “far more contested and U.S. access to space capabilities is not a given.” In the modern era, there is “increased competition from adversaries able to execute space-enabled attacks on our forces in air, land and sea,” he said.
“We are seeing an incredibly sophisticated array of threats including the traditional SATCOM jammers and GPS jammers to more destabilizing Direct Ascent ASATs across multiple orbital regimes, on-orbit grapplers, pursuit satellites, nesting dolls, directed energy weapons and cyber-attacks,” said Saltzman.
He cited China as one of the strongest and most significant competitors in the space domain. The nation, he said, represents a “pacing challenge” for the U.S.
Also shaping the threat environment is the growing ubiquity of privately maintained, commercially available and sophisticated services in space.
“What was once state of the art and limited to only a few well-resourced nations is now the state of the world and far more accessible and even commonplace. I think you will agree that things are quite different from a threat perspective but also all of the other elements contributing to congestion and competition,” Saltzman said.
Earlier this year, Saltzman shared his three lines of effort to guide the Space Force’s future endeavors. He described them as “just a framework to focus and organize” the service branch’s activities.
“The real work is to go about these activities in a fundamentally different way acknowledging that new problems require new answers derived from new thinking – old ways of doing business will come up short,” he said.
“We must pivot. This is an imperative for the collective national security space enterprise, our industry partners, and our allies,” Saltzman emphasized.
Saltzman said he is optimistic despite these difficulties. He noted the “innovative engine” of industry partners and the “character, courage, connection and commitment” of Space Force Guardians as major advantages in space domain operations.
For additional insight on U.S. space defense activities, the Potomac Officers Club will host its 2023 Industrial Space Defense Summit on April 27. To learn more and register to attend the event, which will connect experts in the field to discuss the role of emerging technologies and public-private partnerships in the space domain, please visit the Potomac Officers Club events page.
