DT Thompson is a senior principal adviser at Elara Nova and former vice chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force.
Last month, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink acknowledged for the first time that the United States has “on-orbit space control weapons” built to protect U.S. satellites and deny adversaries the use of their space systems. The statement was necessary, overdue and should not have come as a surprise. Critics who called Meink’s announcement destabilizing misunderstand his intent and the role of America’s armed forces.
The U.S. military exists to defend the nation: on land, at sea, in the air, in space and in cyberspace. It defends first through deterrence — convincing adversaries that the United States has both the will and ability to defeat any attack with devastating consequences. When adversaries choose not to attack U.S. assets in space because they understand they cannot prevail, the effect is stabilizing.
Satellites have been vital to national security since the dawn of the Space Age, when the United States and the Soviet Union aggressively developed military and civilian space systems in parallel. In the decades that followed, those satellites became increasingly important to U.S. security and defense. The data they provide serves not just national leaders, but tactical forces down to the individual soldier, sailor, airman, guardian or Marine.
The benefits of space systems go far beyond military uses. At home and around the world, people rely on satellite-based services that underpin public safety, emergency response services and economic activity. GPS synchronizes the timing systems that enable global communications and financial networks, as well as the mapping and navigation apps that have provided accurate services worldwide for more than 25 years. Anyone with a smartphone has low-cost access to imagery, weather forecasts and other information coming from and through space. Last year, the global space economy was estimated to be worth more than $550 billion, and it could reach $1.8 trillion by 2035.
The broad scope of this space activity creates dependence, and dependence creates vulnerability. The loss of space systems would cause severe economic consequences: Losing GPS services alone could cost $1 billion a day — stalling financial transactions, unsettling markets, destabilizing power grids, cutting cell service and disrupting airline schedules.
It would also cause the U.S. military to revert to a 20th-century style of war, meaning large-scale, imprecise, overly destructive campaigns that are not well-informed regarding the enemy’s location, vulnerabilities or plans of attack.
A dose of reality is in order for those who decry the U.S. fielding space control systems as “weaponizing space.” America’s adversaries have been weaponizing space for decades. The most overt action came in January 2007, when China tested a ground-launched anti-satellite missile that destroyed a defunct weather satellite and created more than 3,000 pieces of orbital debris. Other nations have also been active: Russia began testing anti-satellite weapons in 1963 and most recently did so in 2021. U.S. intelligence assessments show that these nations, among others, are probably testing and fielding on-orbit space control weapons as well.
Even as they are building their own space capabilities, these adversaries argue that fielding these weapons undermines the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. But though the treaty prohibits placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit, it is silent on other weapons, such as those designed to attack satellites using electronic or other nonnuclear means. There is an important debate to be had about the implications of war in space, including the need to address alarming reports that Russia is developing a nuclear anti-satellite weapon, but claims that the U.S. violates this treaty with its current space weapons are false.
If deterrence fails and an attack comes, then U.S. forces must be prepared to fight and win. Losing because of a failure to prepare adequately for a known threat is unacceptable to the American people. Space weapons in the hands of adversaries put American service members, as well as the security of the United States, at risk. U.S. adversaries, and the mothers and fathers of the men and women in the U.S. armed forces, need to know that the Space Force is ready to deal with this threat, just as the other military services deal with threats.
A great strength of America and its armed forces is the ability to understand, and operate confidently in, a dangerous and dynamic world. Meink’s public acknowledgment offers needed assurance to American citizens and allies that the U.S. has not been ignoring the looming threat of weapons in space. It also sends a clear statement to any adversary that the nation is prepared to respond to an attack in that domain. Today is not the day to test American strength and resolve.
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