Brad Head’s Post

"While the capacity to maneuver is not new as a warfighting concept, Parallax Rising 2.2 reflects how the Space Force is adjusting its operations approach based on an increasingly congested and hostile space domain." #regia #freelancejournalism #subjectmatterexpert #thoughtleadership #spaceindustry #defenseindustry #smallbusiness #multimediajournalism #digitaljournalism

While the capacity to maneuver is not new as a warfighting concept, Parallax Rising 2.2 reflects how the Space Force is adjusting its operations approach based on an increasingly congested and hostile space domain. #regia #freelancejournalism #subjectmatterexpert #thoughtleadership #spaceindustry #defenseindustry #smallbusiness #multimediajournalism #digitaljournalism https://lnkd.in/geJY-usZ

IMO, this article contains some valuable non-consensus insights on how new technology & the related opening of the infinite frontier of #space is already changing the rules of geopolitics, great power war, & grand strategy. I strongly agree with that prospect & have been working for months on a book detailing the implications of this dynamic for the USA across various domains of consequence. Precisely as the great American aviator, aircraft entrepreneur, & air/space strategist Alexander de Seversky explained in his books in the 1940s, 1950s, & 1960s, a forward-thinking challenger (e.g., China) which bets aggressively enough on frontier technology may be able to leapfrog into a new strategic concept, gain a decisive advantage, & defeat incumbent powers (e.g., USA & Allies) which are slower to adapt. That said, I think it is a grave error to overlook the implications of space power for surface power on the earth & resilience in orbit — particularly with WWIII well underway. The longer term game vs China may ultimately be decided in the farther reaches of space in the decades ahead & I agree with the longer term imperative of exploring, settling, & winning the solar system. But this game can be decided a lot more quickly if we neglect the importance of space power to defending our interests in/on Earth’s orbit, atmosphere, or surface. At the end of the day, space power is a domain of GREAT consequence but America needs a more comprehensive strategy.

This is why the Space Force exists. Untracked space debris poses a major threat to manned and unmanned space launches, and can be an opportunity for adversaries to exploit. Without the Space Force, this debris will be out of control in just a few years. Our mission is to ensure the safety and security of our nation's space assets. #SpaceForce #SpaceSecurity #RPO National Space Defense Center (NSDC)

🚀Lo #Spazio, sempre meno luogo di cooperazione e sempre più arena di competizione tra potenze👇🏻 🛰️“#Space is not just a place for peaceful #exploration, but an arena for future #combat. Control of space has become as important as dominance on land, sea and air. Space #technology makes military forces in all other domains more powerful. Lose primacy in space and you risk losing wars on Earth”. 💡“General John Shaw, a former deputy head of Space Command, argues that the world has entered “the third space #age”. The first, in the cold war, was dominated by #superpowers with large national-security satellites. In the second stage, private firms became more prominent as they delivered #communications, #television and other #services from space. #Satellites such as the Global Positioning System (gps) revolutionised conventional warfare, starting with the war in Iraq in 1991. Space itself, though, was regarded as a sanctuary. Not so in the third age. Space services are woven ever more tightly into civilian life—gps enables everything from financial transactions to mapping apps. Commercial firms such as SpaceX have reduced the cost of launches and satellites. Above all, the era features #threats and potential #conflict in space, says General Shaw”. ⚠️”Space “is increasingly congested, contested and competitive”, says recent military space doctrine from America’s joint chiefs of staff; America should preserve “space #superiority”, not least through “offensive and defensive space #operations”. Only a few guardians have direct experience of their domain”. 🇨🇳🇺🇸”If #war does break out between #America and #China, the world will have to worry about much more than the fate of satellites. Perhaps the biggest near-term danger is #miscalculation. The contest in space is novel and ambiguous. Nobody is certain what space weapons exist, not least because many civilian technologies have military uses. Rules of the road are ill defined or non-existent, with little prospect for arms control. “Grey-zone” attack, short of war, might thus be tempting”. https://lnkd.in/dcW9M7Ek

Did you know we have a space delivery team? Read this post to find out more.👇 #WhatWeDoWednesay Our experts help protect and defend the UK by delivering, enhancing, and supporting current and future capabilities to meet the ambitions of the Space Defence Strategy. 🚀 We work closely with our industry partners, Strategic Command and UK Space Command to exploit the advantages Space brings, including: 🛰 Space based Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). 🛰 Space Domain Awareness - The monitoring of satellites and space debris orbiting the earth. 🛰 Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) - Satellite signals such as GPS are increasingly crucial to our daily lives and we are exploring innovative ways of delivering vital satellite navigation and timing services to the UK from space.

Why space is an essential part of modern military capabilities In this new Technology Report, Tereza Pultarova examines the role satellites and other space-based systems play in determining the outcome of 21st-century conflicts. Surveying the state of the space art in 2024, Part 1 looks at the indispensable battlefield communications and ISR functions delivered from orbit, the range of threats satellites now face and how resilient networks can be created to counter them. In Part 2, Tereza takes a long view of future capabilities, the prospect and implications of warfare in space, and what technologies nations need to focus on to ensure they maintain access to and control of this crucial domain. https://lnkd.in/e5rff7Rs

#USSF #DerekTournear #SpaceDevelopmentAgency #SDA #ProliferatedWarfighterSpaceArchitecture #Tranche2TrackingLayer #L3Harris #LockheedMartin #SierraNevadaCorporation #SNC #SierraSpace "The Pentagon on Tuesday announced about $2.5 billion in contracts will go to L3Harris, Lockheed Martin and Sierra Space to build satellites for an expanding military system. The U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency is having the trio of companies build 54 satellites as part of a network the U.S. military is building, the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. These satellites will be for the “Tranche 2 Tracking Layer” of the satellite constellation, related to missile defense. Under the awards, each company will build 18 satellites — 16 for missile warnings and tracking, and two with missile defense infrared sensors. The fixed-price contracts are worth $919 million for L3Harris, $890 million for Lockheed Martin and $740 million for Sierra Space. The satellites are expected to launch in April 2027. “The agile response across the space industry is critically important as we deliver to the warfighter this no-fail mission capability of missile warning, missile tracking, and missile defense,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said in a statement. PWSA is a constellation designed to have hundreds of satellites in orbit, for greater resiliency and redundancy than previous U.S. military satellites. It is being built out in “tranches,” and each will represent a new generation of satellites with increasing capabilities. Each tranche consists of two “layers:” Transport, for mesh communications, and Tracking, for targeting locations and missile defense. The Pentagon has increased its ambitions in space, seeing a need to keep up with China’s growing capabilities in a domain that has widespread ramifications for national security efforts back on Earth. The Space Force has especially seen its budget grow, with $30 billion requested for fiscal 2024, about double its budget from 2021. Much of that funding goes to defense contractors and space companies providing products and services to the military. The SDA has previously awarded contracts to build and operate satellites for the same network to Lockheed and L3Harris, as well as Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, York Space and Rocket Lab. Sierra Space is a privately held spinoff from Colorado-based aerospace and defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation. Late last year, Sierra Space added about 150 employees with security clearances from SNC, as part of a broader restructuring after shipping its first Dream Chaser spaceplane."

The Space Development Agency agency continues moving the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) forward. #SemperCitius Achieving “speed” (time from concept / RFP to fielding an operational system) is a multivariable calculation. As mentioned in the comments to Michael Sheetz’s post, and as outlined in various DoD policy statements, I too long for the transformation envisioned by the PWSA to include hyper-fast moving startups with amazing new technology in development. However based on statements and even LinkedIn posts by Derek Tournear in the recent past some advanced capabilities will be put at the warfighter’s disposal faster by more experienced, mature commercial entities. That being said if DoD investments are not made in the startup segment of the space ecosystem the “spirals” may not really achieve the technology leaps that will be needed to sustain this vision into the future.