Space Force Trying to Prep Old Satellites for New Threats by 2026 – By Patrick Tucker (Defense One) / April 20, 2022
Russia and China are developing new space weapons faster than the U.S. can field new constellations. That’s forcing a big rethink on how to keep the lights on in space.
Russia and China are getting better at taking out U.S. satellites, so the Pentagon is reconsidering how it builds them, how it launches them, and how much it relies on commercial partners for both, a top Space Force official said Wednesday.
Two recent events illustrate the problem, said Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, who leads Space Systems Command, said at the C4ISR Conference in Arlington, Va.
In November, Russia used its Nudol missile to destroy a defunct, 3,860-pound “Cosmos 1408” satellite. Guetlein said the test created “several thousand pieces of debris” that, among other effects, sent astronauts on the International Space Station “scrambling into their escape capsules.” He called it a “demonstration of very unprofessional at least and very unsafe behavior in the way they look at space.”
In February, China tested a satellite that can grab and throw satellites. “That proves that they have the ability and the intent to compete against us for space superiority,” Guetlein said.
