26 June 2023
Speakers:
-Kevin P. Chilton, USAF (Ret.), Moderator.
-Charles Galbreath - Senior Space Force leader with operations, program management, test, and policy experience with a drive to advance technology and innovation in support of national security.
-Maj. Gen David N. Miller Jr. - Director of operations, training, and force development of USSC.
-Robert Atkin - Vice President, Special Space Systems at GA-EMS Tiger Innovations.
Charles Galbreath:
On Threats from China:
-Everything China does in space is governed by PLA decisions.
-PLA controls the planning and direction of all Chinese space activities - any growth in China’s space program should be considered an expansion of its military space capability.
On US Response to Threats:
-Diplomatically, the US and other spacefaring nations are trying to define norms of responsible behavior to stabilize space operations.
-A nor, preventing the creation of long-lived debris is a high priority.
-This is not about conflict in space - it is about deterring conflict everywhere.
-Fighting to simply maintain equivalency with the adversary is not a war winning approach and undercuts the deterrent posture of the US.
On Competitive Endurance:
-No military wants to be surprised by an adversary
-Space is becoming increasingly congested, stressing the limited capacity of the SSN.
-Both the existing SSN and SCN lack the necessary capacity and coverage to respond to conflict in space.
-We need to make ourselves as resilient as possible to avoid an attack.
-The least developed area of the Space forces competitive endurance initiative is the need to develop capabilities that can directly defend against adversaries.
On Counter Space Campaigning:
-Conduct a forced design for counter space that includes joint capabilities and acquiring the right capabilities to develop a test and field counter space capability.
-The Space Force must improve its space domain awareness capabilities, testing and training architecture, and its satellite operations capabilities.
-Space Force needs support from congress to develop and field its capabilities.
-The defense industry must respond quickly to USSD requirements and requests for information
-We need to partner with industry and learn from other domains.
On Shared Space Operations
-Unlike other domains-commercial, civil, foreign, and military space activities all constantly share the same operating environment.
-Now space is available to a variety of institutions.
On Protecting the Space Domain:
-The Space Force is going to have to protect space or commerce in that domain. Unlike terrestrial domains, and say this is a military zone, this is a peaceful zone for Commerce; everything happens in space simultaneously.
-The US has designed and sized its military based on the assumption of uninterrupted access to space capabilities and services.
Maj. Gen David N. Miller Jr.:
On Lessons from Past Military Operations:
-In my time in previous or working for you in Air Force Base command, I think we demonstrated an unmatched capability on orbit. We must find a way to develop capabilities to our ability to protect our power.
On The Evolution of Space as a Warfighting Domain:
-We're past the point of space as a warfighting domain. We are transitioning to a warfighting space force, not just a space force design of systems but of people and capability within the service and the linkages we need to our allies.
On Preparation for Future Threats:
-The first is to make sure that we avoid the operational surprise and that basically speaks to making sure we have both the intelligence capability and capacity.
On US Dependence on Space-Based Technologies:
-The global populace uses the world before they've had their first cup of coffee. Many, including myself, rely on satellite technology. It's not just the ATM, it's world banking overall, it's secure communications.
-GPS in particular, if I had to pick one, I don't think people realize how much it depends.
- There's probably not been a more significant Innovation that has impacted the globe from a technological perspective than the ability to do global satellite Communications.
On Threat Awareness and Monitoring:
-Day to day, we are monitoring threats all the time, we are tracking high-risk events that we see on orbit.
On the Incorporation of New Technologies and Partnerships:
-We're seeing some benefits from the commercial sector also in our ground processor.
On Offensive Counter Space Strategy and Credible Deterrence:
-To have a credible solution to the challenges that led to the establishment of the space force, we need a full spectrum service.
On the Importance of Full-Spectrum Service for Space Defense:
What the CSO right there was getting too so it was really to have a credible solution to the challenges that led to the establishment of the space force. We need a full spectrum service.
Robert Atkin:
On the Need for Public Awareness and Support:
-It's very important for the population of the United States to understand what's going on... it's important that the nation gets behind it because we're going to have to put a lot of valuable resources towards it.
On Dependency on Space Technology:
-Traveling for 4th of July. See what's going on, maybe check the weather... all of those things are dependent on Space GPS satellites... Infrastructure in a way that people don't really think about and they depend on it every single day.
-A day without space would be a bad day, a month without space could very easily bring our society to a complete halt.
On the Role of Private Industry in Innovation:
-Industry that really, if you think about it, most of the innovation that's going to come... is going to come from an industry but the industry is really just following the demand signal that it's given from the government.
On Strategy of Resilience and Mission Assurance:
-Less expensive satellite constellations that are better known as a proliferation strategy... tell me what are your views on other methods to improve resilience or overall mission assurance.
On Space as a Warfighting Domain:
-Space warfighting domain. Industry that really if you think about it most of the Innovation that's going to come to how to develop these systems is going to come from an issue.
-We have to figure out ways to use edge processing machine learning to try to reduce the amount of data... that decision doesn't have a lot of time.
On the Urgency in Addressing Potential Threats:
-Program is on pace to prepare the PLA to have the capability to invade Taiwan by 2027... are we moving fast enough to be in a position to make sure that they don't make that decision in 2027? Absolutely not, we see we are moving too slowly.
On Adequate Resourcing and Fielding for Space Defense:
-It's a significant change in the resources to get the space force just over the last three years. I think we're on the right track to get there but we've got to move in a few key areas.
On Risk-Taking in Technological Development:
-We have to have a bit of a culture shift to say that... those doing the acquisition understand that that's what has to happen and there has to be just a general culture of if I get 80% of the way there that's a big success as opposed to taking more risk.
On the Importance of Adequate Resourcing and Fielding Capabilities:
-Resourced and fielded either in our Guardians themselves or in the capabilities that were given them is adequate to the task... I think we're on the right track to get there but we've got to move in a few key areas.
Importance of Rapid Technological Development:
-We are moving too slowly on our development cycles for technology or 3 to 5 years that could be just like one and so we need to rapidly compress that in order to be able to meet the 2027.
Q&A from Audience:
On Guardian Training:
Miller:
-This is a new Force development model...we are taking those commercial industry advances as quickly as they come and innovating them into our operating Concepts.
Galbreath:
-The Operators that are going to be responsible for counter space operations needed to be specifically trained... all of the Guardians need to be aware of what threats are out there and how they might present to the systems they operate.
On Chinese and Russian Commercial Space Activity:
Miller:
-There's been a long debate about the state of Enterprises and the viability of a commercial sector given the laws in the PRC and the necessity to maintain a relationship and exposure to the PRC leadership on what's going on in those commercial enterprises.
-Some of the commercial ventures could rapidly transitioning from an automatic disposal capability to something more threatening... Yes, I am concerned that we maintain awareness capability and we do need to be tracking the awareness of it.
On Acceleration on Counter Space:
Miller:
-We've got to make some rapid gains in space domain awareness. We're probably the least aware of any domain that any service is responsible for, and that's due to our legacy approach where we assumed a permissive environment. We need a globally capable, precision quality, custody-focused space domain awareness enterprise.
-Another key focus area is the development of our Guardians and the Joint Force. We've made some significant progress, but we need to start building test and training infrastructure including range simulation requirements and training requirements at the unit level. These are two areas I want to see a lot of progress in the next two years.
On Tactically Responsive Space:
Galbreath:
-Responsible space is going to demonstrate the ability to rapidly launch a space domain awareness asset within 24 hours of call up. As we talk about technically responsive space, we'll have to discuss the limitations we have in consumables onboard our spacecraft now and the need for more.
-Technically responsive must also mean survivability on orbit. Our legacy architecture is transitioning, and we can't just be shooting down threats and trying to plug the holes. Our systems must be able to maneuver and continue to operate through threats, requiring a level of tactical focus.
コメント