Washington Pushes Military Cooperation Among Allies in Space

"U.S. attempts to foster closer military integration among allies are extending into space.

The U.S. military wants allies to train and plan together for space operations, in the same way that they do in ground, air and naval combat, said Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations.

The move comes amid concerns about China and Russia's ability to disrupt the West's satellites, and new technology the two countries have developed, including satellites that can grab others. Russia, for instance, has conducted operations to disrupt Ukraine's space-enabled communications.

"The conflict in Ukraine has made it clear: access to, and use of, space is fundamental to modern conflict" said Saltzman, who recently held meetings with European counterparts to press for greater cooperation.

Saltzman said the aim was to have shared interoperability among allies, and to jointly train and develop tactics, techniques and procedures that exist for ground, air and sea combat forces. "When you get to integration [among allies], you are at a whole different place, rather than merely coordinating," he said.

There is some military coordination in space, including shared satellite launches and North Atlantic Treaty Organization space centers in Germany and France. But Saltzman said cooperation so far has been nascent and must go further.

"Quantity is a quality in itself," he said, using an expression often employed in the military. For example, the satellites of a large coalition would be harder to target than those of one nation, he said.

Saltzman, who was speaking during a recent visit to the Royal International Air Tattoo, an air show outside of London, said he is impressed by space expertise in the U.K., Australia, Canada, France and other allies. While these countries' budgets aren't as big as the U.S.'s, their "strategic thinking" on space has been valuable, he said.

Russia and China have developed significant capabilities in space.

Saltzman said Russia has been sending satellites "irresponsibly close" to those of other nations to shadow them. Moscow has "nesting doll" satellites, which can release an object that can be used to attack other objects in space, while China has tested robotic arms that can be used to grab other satellites. Both countries have demonstrated missiles that can destroy orbiting satellites.

At the start of the Ukraine conflict, Russia jammed satellite communications and the Global Positioning System, a U.S. satellite-based navigation system.

Among the lessons that the U.S. has learned from this, Saltzman said, is that ground assets that enable satellite communication need to be protected, as well as those in space. Another takeaway is the need to have myriad commercial operators to augment the capability of state providers, he said.

"When those satellites were affected, the most rapid way for Ukraine to regain communication was through commercial augmentation," he said.

When cellphone towers providing telephone and internet services were knocked out early in the war, Ukraine turned to Elon Musk's Starlink service, which provides internet connectivity using a swarm of satellites. Musk's SpaceX also has cornered much of the rocket-launch market in the U.S.

Some parts of the satellite universe, though, will have to stay in state hands.

"There are inherently military functions that need to be performed . . . you can't outsource those," Saltzman said."" [1]

1.  World News: Washington Pushes Military Cooperation Among Allies in Space. MacDonald, Alistair. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 19 July 2023: A.8.