Biden Admin Expected To Rein In ‘Space Power’ Push
Instead of focusing on the pressing need to shore up vulnerabilities in current and near-term space capabilities, says one critic, Space Force and SPACECOM are "all off trying to train for how they're going to go fight a space war."
By Theresa Hitchens on February 01, 2021 at 7:01 AM
AFRL's lunar patrol satellite, CHPS
CHPS lunar patrol satellite, AFRL graphic
WASHINGTON: Advocates of expansive US ‘spacepower’ — via aggressive actions to “dominate†the heavens from Earth’s orbit to beyond the Moon — are likely to find the Biden administration much less supportive of their dreams, say a range of former DoD and US military officials, insiders and long-time space policy wonks.
Incoming space policy makers are expected to rein in the current Space Force and Space Command focus on — or, as some critic have charged, obsession with — fighting wars in space with China and Russia, out to the Moon, Mars and, in theory anyway, infinity.
For example, Space Force Vice Chief Gen. DT Thompson, in a Jan. 13 presentation to the Association of Old Crows, stressed that creating a “warfighting culture†— including training in “orbital warfare†— would be the No. 2 focus for the new service this year. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond, Thompson’s boss, in his November “CSO Planning Guidance†places priorities on “investments in Orbital Warfare, Space Electromagnetic Warfare, and tactical intelligence portfolios†to “protect and defend American interests in cis-lunar space and beyond.†Meanwhile DARPA and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) have been pushing foward myriad efforts to develop new capabilities for military operations in cislunar space (between Earth’s outer orbit and that of the Moon), such as AFRL’s Cislunar Highway Patrol Satellite (CHPS) that would be DoD’s first space domain awareness (SDA) satellite in lunar orbit.
https://breakingdefense.com/2021/02/biden-admin-expected-to-rein-in-space-power-push/
