To counter China and Russia, US builds alliances in ‘wild, wild west’ of space
- US Space Command and Space Force seeking to ‘dominate’ what Pentagon considers the latest military domain
- Classified project aims to defend future satellite networks against attacks, top general says
The new US Space Command is working with allies in the “wild, wild west” of space and will harden future satellite networks against attacks, the unit’s top general said, as the Trump administration reorganises its military space bureaucracy.
General John Raymond, head of the Space Force created in August, said Washington would work with the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, composed of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and the United States.
“We’re working really hard with our Five Eyes partners and with France, Germany and Japan,” he said, adding the United States has agreements to share data and services “with many, many more countries”.
In a speech to an annual conference of the Air Force Association in Maryland late on Tuesday, his first public address since taking on his post, Raymond said he also plans to help secure hundreds of small broadband satellites now in development from interception, part of an effort to counter Russian and Chinese space technologies. He did not give details about the classified project.
“The Outer Space Treaty says you can’t have nuclear weapons. That’s about what it says. The rest is the wild, wild west,” Raymond said, referring to an international agreement signed decades ago by the United States, China and Russia. The treaty does not mention anti-satellite weapons and communication-jamming technologies.
“You have to have a satellite that is defendable. US Space Command will put a sharp focus on that,” Raymond said.
