By Col Charles S. Galbreath, USSF (Retd.),
Published by Mitchell Aerospace Power, November 2025
Abstract
The evolution of the U.S. military space architecture is at an inflection point. China is aggressively pursuing dynamic space approaches to increase and sustain its space architecture capabilities and place U.S. assets at a position of disadvantage. Should the United States fail to adapt and adopt dynamic space operations, its vulnerabilities in the domain will endure and risk losing U.S. space superiority—a unique advantage that is foundational to all U.S. joint operations.
Legacy U.S. space system designs were premised on a peaceful, non-hostile space domain and operated static missions in energy-constant orbits. Space is now a warfighting domain, with new and growing threats to space systems, plus increasing operational demands on U.S. space capabilities. New capabilities that increase the resilience and effectiveness of the U.S. military space architecture are needed. Space operations must similarly transform to one defined by dynamic space operations (DSO)—employing these new capabilities with the ability to frequently and rapidly change parameters to achieve mission effects.
The phrase “dynamic space operations” is typically associated with the need to reposition satellites without regret for the fuel used. However, enabling the free maneuver of satellites is only one facet of the innovation needed to improve space architecture resilience and complicate adversary planning and countermeasures. True dynamic space operations will require changes and practices associated with all segments of the U.S. space architecture. This encompasses orbital, terrestrial, link, and launch segments, as well as establishing a logistics infrastructure and new concepts of operations (CONOPS) as a foundation for future DSO. This broader application of DSO will increase the overall flexibility of the U.S. space architecture, thereby accelerating a greater application of long-standing principles of warfare such as maneuver and surprise, which will in turn increase resilience and mission effectiveness. Furthermore, it will facilitate the employment of new missions and novel approaches to help U.S. forces maintain the initiative and create compounding problems for potential adversaries—ultimately strengthening the deterrent posture of the United States.
Hesitancy to fully implement dynamic space operations at scale risks ceding valuable time and initiative
to adversaries. The Space Force must move decisively to embrace all opportunities of this new operational
paradigm. The Space Force is already moving ahead on many fronts, but now is the time to accelerate
dynamic space operations.
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