Mastalir stated China is “copying the US playbook” with the method it incorporates satellites into more traditional armed force operations on land, in the air, and at sea. “Their specific goals are to be able to track and target US high-value assets at the time and place of their choosing,” Mastalir stated.

China’s method, referred to as Anti-Access/Area Denial, or A2AD, is fixated avoiding United States forces from accessing worldwide waters extending hundreds or countless miles from mainland China. A few of the islands inhabited by China within the last 15 years are better to the Philippines, another treaty ally, than to China itself.

The A2AD method very first “extended to the first island chain (bounded by the Philippines), and now the second island chain (extending to the US territory of Guam), and eventually all the way to the West Coast of California,” Mastalir stated.

United States authorities state China has actually based anti-ship, anti-air, and anti-ballistic weapons in the area, and much of these systems depend on satellite tracking and targeting. Mastalir stated his top priority at Indo-Pacific Command, headquartered in Hawaii, is to safeguard United States and allied satellites, or “blue assets,” and obstacle “red assets” to break the Chinese armed force’s “long-range kill chains and protect the joint force from space-enabled attack.”

What this suggests is the Space Force wishes to have the capability to disable or ruin the satellites China would utilize to offer interaction, command, tracking, navigation, or security assistance throughout an attack versus the United States or its allies.

Mastalir stated he thinks China’s space-based abilities are “sufficient” to attain the nation’s military aspirations, whatever they are. “The sophistication of their sensors is certainly continuing to increase—the interconnectedness, the interoperability. They’re a pacing challenge for a reason,” he stated.

“We’re seeing all signs point to being able to target US aircraft carriers… high-value assets in the air like tankers, AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control System),” Mastalir stated. “This is a strategy to keep the US from intervening, and that’s what their space architecture is.”

That’s not appropriate to Pentagon authorities, so Space Force workers are now training for orbital warfare. Simply do not anticipate to understand the specifics of any of these weapons systems whenever quickly.

“The details of that? No, you’re not going to get that from any war-fighting organization—’let me tell you precisely how I intend to attack an adversary so that they can respond and counter that’—those aren’t discussions we’re going to have,” Saltzman stated. “We’re still going to protect some of those (details), but broadly, from an operational concept, we are going to be ready to contest space.”

A brand-new administration

The Space Force will likely get brand-new policy instructions after President-elect Donald Trump takes workplace in January. The Trump shift group hasn’t determined any modifications coming for the Space Force, however a list of policy propositions referred to as Project 2025 might use some hints.

Released by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, Project 2025 require the Pentagon to pivot the Space Force from a primarily protective posture towards offending weapons systems. Christopher Miller, who acted as acting secretary of defense in the very first Trump administration, authored the military area of Project 2025.

Miller composed that the Space Force ought to “reestablish offensive capabilities to guarantee a favorable balance of forces, efficiently manage the full deterrence spectrum, and seriously complicate enemy calculations of a successful first strike against US space assets.”

Trump disavowed Project 2025 throughout the project, however because the election, he has actually chosen numerous of the policy program’s authors and factors to essential administration posts.

Saltzman met Trump last month while going to a launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket in Texas, however he stated the encounter was incidental. Saltzman was currently there for conversations with SpaceX authorities, and Trump’s travel prepares just ended up being understood the day before the launch.

The discussion with Trump at the Starship launch didn’t discuss any policy information, according to Saltzman. He included that the Space Force hasn’t yet had any official conversations with the Trump shift group.

No matter the instructions Trump takes with the Space Force, Saltzman stated the service is currently thinking of what to do to keep what the Pentagon now calls “space superiority”— a twist on the term air supremacy, which may have appeared similarly as fanciful at the dawn of military air travel more than a century earlier.

“That’s the reason we’re the Space Force,” Saltzman stated. “So administration to administration, that’s still going to be true. Now, it’s just about resourcing and the discussions about what we want to do and when we want to do it, and we’re ready to have those discussions.”