The United States shouldn’t leap to expand its missile defense system to protect U.S. military and civilian space assets from enemy attack, Gen. C. Robert Kehler, commander of the Air Force Space Command, said.
Rather, Kehler said, the United States should focus on assuring that a capability provided by a space asset can swiftly be provided by another system, if the space asset is attacked and disabled.
He was responding to a question from Space & Missile Defense Report as to whether the United States should extend its multi-layered ballistic missile defense system technology to protect U.S. military and civilian space assets. He spoke before the Air Force Association (AFA) conference at a hotel in Washington, D.C.
China used a ground-based missile to demolish one of its own aging weather satellites, creating an immense field of dangerous space debris that will continue orbiting Earth for years, threatening spaceships and satellites.
As well, China used a ground-based laser to disable a U.S. military satellite.
On the one hand, Kehler said the United States must have space situational awareness, to know when its space assets are attacked or threatened. “The first thing is to improve our situational awareness,” he said.
But as to what the nation then should do with such information, if an attack is imminent or underway, Kehler had these thoughts:
He is “not convinced the greatest threat is from kinetic kill” weapons wielded by enemies, such as ground-based missiles aimed at U.S. space assets.
There are other threats, too, he said, such as cyber attacks on U.S. computer assets.
“We’ve got to be very careful not to take our eye off all the balls,” he said.
The key isn’t to defend one particular asset, such as a satellite, but rather to focus on “preserving mission capability,” he said.
For example, a satellite might be a key link to transmitting military communications among U.S. forces, but if it is disabled, there might perhaps be a ground communications backup.
The focus should be on preserving a capability, rather than a specific asset, he said. “Many users don’t care where they get capability,” so long as it is there when required, Kehler said.
Perhaps capabilities can be obtained through means other than space, he said, or in some cases perhaps protection can be engineered into a space asset.
At the same time, he acknowledged that space is becoming a contested domain, saying the United States must have competent space situational awareness.
He also spoke to how the United States, by maintaining a robust nuclear missile force, deters nuclear war.
On funding issues, Kehler said that Air Force recapitalization of assets is a key requirement in both air and space hardware, and there must be progress in both areas.
But progress is being made, such as the award recently of contract deals for GPS improvements.
“We don’t have all the money we need to recapitalize the force,” he said, adding that the lack is Air Force-wide, and “I am not despairing” in the face of some shortages, though he termed the budget process “ugly.”
On the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, Kehler termed its success “spectacular. I don’t see any reason why that won’t continue.”
When questioned, he didn’t predict whether there may be a merger of the U.S. Space Command and the Strategic Command.
He also said there clearly is a role for missile defense in the strategic deterrence mission.
While at one time the defensive triad consisted of land-based nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in ground silos, bombers carrying nuclear weapons and submarines with nuclear-tipped missiles, all of that together is but one leg of the new triad, that includes elements such as missile defense, he said.
In a separate AFA conference session on a different day, Kehler said that space has become endemic, woven into everything the Air Force does in combat. That means that existing systems have to be kept operational continuously, even as they are modernized, he observed.