By Sonder London,
From The View From Space, 30 July 2025
‘Space to space, space to ground, ground to space’ will all play a role in achieving the ‘lethality that is necessary to achieve deterrence.’
🛰️ The Economist describes this week how U.S. Space Command is getting ready for war in space:
‘Since 2015 there has been an eight-fold increase in Chinese satellite-launch activity. The People’s Liberation Army has become much better at operating in space, including conducting electronic warfare in orbit, he says, with China eclipsing Russia. China, Russia and India have tested destructive anti-satellite weapons in 2007, 2021 and 2022 respectively. America also accuses Russia of developing an orbital nuclear weapon that could destroy thousands of satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) at once.
A few years ago Space Command was wary of talking about its own offensive capabilities. Now it embraces the idea. “It’s time that we can clearly say that we need space fires, and we need weapon systems. We need orbital interceptors,” said General Whiting in April. “And what do we call these? We call these weapons.” He points to Mr Trump’s Golden Dome plan for a missile-defence shield, which includes space-based interceptors to destroy enemy missiles. In theory the same weapons could also target enemy satellites. “Space to space, space to ground, ground to space” would all play a role in achieving the “lethality that is necessary to achieve…deterrence,” says an official.
America’s allies are also becoming more open about this. In a defence review published this year, Britain said for the first time that it would develop anti-satellite weapons deployed on Earth and in orbit. America leads a small but tight-knit club of spacefaring allies. In Operation Olympic Defender, Space Command works with six countries—Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and New Zealand—to “deter hostile acts in space”. In April the initiative reached “initial operational capability”, with all seven countries signing a joint campaign plan whose details will be finalised this summer.’
See: Original Article
