The US Space Force, which in 2024 received a budget larger than NASA by $ 4 billion, a total of $ 29 billion, does not yet have its own space weapons. But the head of the US Space Force, Chance Salzman, spoke about plans to close this gap.
And for the Pentagon, winning the fight in space is doctrinally as important as gaining air superiority, as Salzman said bluntly in his conversation with reporters, writes Ars Technica.
At the same time, the United States approached the direct struggle in space with a properly built architecture in the form of a constellation of numerous cheap satellites, and not a small number of powerful and expensive devices. This is exactly what Starlink is, as a broadband network and a network of small satellites for monitoring missile danger. Such systems demonstrate much greater survivability and stability.
But, as Saltzman emphasized, the United States is now catching up. China is already actively pursuing and even has its own space weapons, and its satellite constellation of 1000 aircraft consists of about a third of military satellites, and also has anti-satellite weapons. But there is also the Russian Federation, which is already engaged in the deployment of nuclear weapons in space.
A slide was also published, which shows the tools that China and the Russian Federation already have. In particular, in 2021, China launched the Shijian-21 satellite, which moved another old Chinese satellite into a burial orbit. On the slide, it shows that a grid was used for this. Two Russian systems are also shown – the Krasukha electronic warfare station and the Peresvet laser blinding system of optics.
And in general, the American Space Force has already formed its vision of six separate categories of weapons that they need. Three of them are ground-based, and three more are space-based. And the common effectors are directed energy such as lasers, electronic warfare and kinetic destruction. Specific names and characteristics were not named, but the general description gives a rather detailed picture.
At the same time, the direct kinetic destruction of enemy satellites is considered only as the last tool in the queue. This is due to the formation of additional debris and clogging of the orbit. Therefore, a greater advantage is given to the means of blocking, disrupting and destroying the space capabilities of the enemy.
From these areas, the American ground-based jamming systems of the Meadowlands satellites are known, and back in 2021 it was revealed that weapons with directed energy were being developed. It is also known about work on inspection satellites that may have a manipulator. Such a spacecraft can approach an enemy satellite and mechanically neutralize it. There is also work on space debris catcher satellites that can be repurposed into interceptors.