“The next major conflict may be won or lost in space,” Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said at a symposium on space in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tuesday. “We must confront reality. Weapons are currently deployed by our competitors that can attack our assets in space.”
Shanahan, making the case for President Trump’s Space Force proposal, said both Russia and China have already weaponized space with the intent to put American satellites at risk in the event of conflict.
Shanahan singled out China, which has emerged as a major space rival in recent years, for its development of weapons that can jam or destroy U.S. surveillance, communications, and navigation satellites.
“The PLA [Chinese People’s Liberation Army] is also deploying directed-energy weapons, and we expect them to field a ground-based laser system aimed at low-earth orbit space sensors by next year,” Shanahan said. “They are also prepared to use cyberattacks against our space systems and have deployed an operational ground- based ASAT [anti-satellite] missile system.”
While he focused on China, Shanahan said Russia is developing many of the same capabilities, including hypersonic missiles that the United States has no current ability to track.
“Because of their actions, space is no longer a sanctuary — it is now a war-fighting domain. This is not a future or theoretical threat; this is today’s threat,” Shanahan told an audience of space experts at the 35th annual Space Symposium at the Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs.
Shanahan stressed the proposed U.S. Space Force will be a “low-cost, low-bureaucracy” branch with 15,000 to 20,000 people drawn from existing forces and the ability to protect and defend our space interests for decades to come.
“By creating the new service inside the Air Force, the additional cost is less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the DoD budget. Or put another way, the Space Force will cost about $1.50 per American per year,” Shanahan said, arguing it was a small price to pay to protect America’s $19 trillion economy, which increasingly relies on space.
“From the GPS you use to navigate, to the delivery drones and self-driving cars of the future, to the phone you’re using to tweet quotes from my remarks today, space is fundamental to our modern way of life.”
