Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond, fresh from a White House snub earlier this month, is making the case for the importance of the Space Force, the newest military service created by President Donald Trump in 2019.
“The establishment of the United States Space Force is so important,” Raymond told a virtual gathering of the Air Force Association on Thursday.
The space chief was in full sales-pitch mode at the conference of defense sector insiders despite garnering support for the new service from Congress and even the Biden administration.
“Both China and Russia have missiles that they can launch from the ground and kinetically destroy a satellite in low-Earth orbit in a matter of minutes,” the commander said.
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Raymond also described adversarial-directed energy and jamming capabilities, a Russian satellite that can fire projectiles, and a Chinese satellite with a robotic arm.
All indicate that the days of launching satellites into a friendly domain are gone.
“You can’t just build a satellite, an exquisite satellite, launch it, and assume that it’s going to be there forever,” Raymond explained.
“Space is a war-fighting domain, just like air, land, and sea,” he added. “We are purpose-built to stay ahead of that growing threat.”
‘The cost of space’
The event is Raymond’s first virtual discussion since he was forced to respond to a comment by White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Feb. 2 when asked if Space Force would remain in the Biden administration.
Later that day, Psaki tweeted an invitation to Space Force members to come to the White House briefing room and “share an update on their important work.”
The following day, on a call with the Defense Writers Group, Raymond accepted the invitation but has yet to brief White House reporters.
Psaki later underscored the Biden administration’s commitment to keep the force, which has been heckled by many for Trump’s exuberant enthusiasm and a Netflix spoof of the same name starring Steve Carell.
Raymond tried Thursday to recenter the argument on the force’s value and protecting America, which increasingly relies on space.
“We now have a service that is focused on protecting and defending that domain and all the benefits,” he said.
Raymond said standing up the force was done for tens of millions of dollars, no additional manpower, and that the service is mostly resource-neutral as Air Force personnel and units shift over.
“The cost of space is a very, very small portion of the Defense Department budget,” he said.
“We cannot afford, as a nation, to lose space. That’s why the Space Force is so important,” Raymond said. “We’re not going to lose space. We’re the best in the world of space, and we are running fast.”
Raymond said the “guardians,” as the service’s new personnel are called, are working to stay ahead of the threat and “deter from a position of strength.”
The chief is hoping he will have some 6,400 guardians by the end of the spring. Currently, the force counts on some 15,000 total service members, including many administratively assigned Air Force personnel.
Raymond also made the case that the new service, with a seat at the Joint Chiefs table, elevates the importance of space in national security.
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“It elevates our voice and requirements,” Raymond explained.
“It elevates our ability to compete for dollars to get resources for those capabilities that are so vital to our nation. It elevates our ability to develop our own people,” he said. “On all metrics, we have seen, just in this first year, a significant increase in significant goodness by having this new service.”
