Air and Space: The Space Force Turns One

By Joe Pappalardo

"Russia launched the spacecraft on November 25, 2019, as a small 'inspector' satellite designed to check on the country’s own satellites in orbit."

    Then a few weeks later, it had detached from its mother ship and headed up into the orbital area of a US reconnaissance satellite. The satellite, Kosmos 2543, closed in on USA 245 before heading away toward one of Russia's own satellites. It appeared to fire a projectile that had its own rocket system and jetted past the satellite. The US government accused Russia of launching an "anti-satellite weapon" and protested it. However, Russia's test left no debris and allowed it to truthfully deny such a thing, all while gathering data. It also sent a clear message to the US: We now have a military presence in space.

    So last December, the Space Force was created with General John "Jay" Raymond as its Chief of Space Operations. He and the majority of the new branch are recruits from other existing branches who had already been working with something space-related. Among the 2,000 members are the 527th Space Aggressors, a special team of 30 or so who conduct training missions with other teams in the Space Force and Air Force. The Space Force is expected to 16,000 personnel, which will make it the smallest branch by far - even smaller than the Coast Guard.

    The 527th has clearance for top-secret files classifying the military capabilities of adversaries, from Level 1 to 5. Level 1 is the type of warfare you might see today, while Level 5 is something 20 years in the future. The 527th can simulate any of these scenarios for a training team based on what they ask for. Today, the most common attacks are spoofing and jamming, which can block or mess up military/electronic communications. Newer GPS III satellites come equipped with anti-jamming features and Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) comsats can even dampen interference with anti-noise.

"Every exercise is different, but they all have something in common: The goal is never to win. 'For me personally, a day that the Aggressors lose is a good day,' says Castorena. 'That means that our forces are doing what they need to do.'"

 More direct inference could involve direct damage to satellites either via ground-based lasers or more precision targeting with other satellites in orbit. Even though the Space Force is now the top dog for US space command, it's still seen with skepticism by many. The Pentagon has denied it access to some Air Force spaceplanes, and there was even a Netflix sitcom about the Space Force. This year, the agency aims to try to establish more political clout in order to establish clear lines between what it can and cannot do.