After multiple scrubbed launches, the Space Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle returned to orbit Dec. 28, riding a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The launch of the secretive reusable space plane came two weeks after China launched its own mysterious spacecraft, “Shenlong,” ...
While China and Russia have ramped up testing of advanced space weaponry in recent years and observers call for the U.S. to develop more offensive capabilities of its own, senior Pentagon officials at the recent Aspen Security Forum highlighted the fine line America faces in ...
The Space Force increasingly views space as a contested environment it might have to battle through due to China's increasing capabilities. But that does not mean the service is unprepared if it had to fight tonight, according to Chief of Space operations Gen. B. Chance ...
The Space Force and the Pentagon have put considerable effort into making proliferating satellite constellations to make them more resilient against attack, but the ground stations and networks that communicate with those satellites pose a “backdoor” risk through which adversaries could potentially attack space capability, ...
The Space Force must transition from delivering behind-the-scenes support to playing a more active role in which space capabilities are continuously tested and contested—and it must do so in as short a time as possible, said Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman in ...
Accelerating commercial cooperation and leveraging resources are crucial to competing with China in a new space race, according to Air Force Maj. Gen. John Olson, mobilization assistant to the chief of Space Operations at U.S. Space Force. Olson’s remarks came during a National Defense Industrial Association ...
China is building up its space capabilities at an “incredible rate”—and it has done so by embracing needed principles the U.S. has historically been slow to adopt, top Space Force officials said. Speaking at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Security Forum, both Vice Chief of Space ...
China and Russia have dramatically boosted their presence in space in the past several years, increasing security concerns for the U.S. now and in the future, according to a new report from the Defense Intelligence Agency. In particular, the “Challenges to Security in Space” report ...
The Russian test of an anti-satellite weapon this week highlighted the vulnerability of orbital assets on which the U.S. military increasingly relies, and it dramatically demonstrated why a new U.S. Space Force research and development program is focused on defensive technologies, according to experts and military ...
Sanctions are crushing Russia’s efforts to counter American space superiority, but analysts have a rising concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin may link up with China’s wealth to develop the weapons that could stop American war fighters in their tracks. Commercial cooperation between two of ...
The Defense Department has no plans to shoot down a spent Chinese Long March 5B rocket booster, which is out of control and could reach Earth's surface after re-entry, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III reported. The U.S. demonstrated an anti-satellite capability in 2008 against ...
More of the world’s militaries are reorganizing their command structures to prepare for future wars in space while coming up with ways to counter satellites directly or to interfere with satellite communications, according to a report out April 1. In the 2021 edition of Global ...