Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander, US Strategic Command (left) and US Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander, U.S Space Command (right) testified at a Senate Armed Services Committee posture hearing, Feb. 29, 2024. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt Eugene Oliver)
HUNTSVILLE — US Space Command’s top priorities for fiscal 2027 include “space fires” to enable “space superiority,” and “enhanced battlespace awareness” capabilities, according to its top officer, Gen. Stephen Whiting.
Speaking today at the annual Army Space and Missile Defense Symposium here, Whiting revealed that the command has just submitted to the Joint Force its FY27 “integrated priorities list.” The list is an annual compendium of requirements, put together by each combatant command, designed to “inform the services and defense agencies of our warfighting needs as they prepare their budget and acquisition plans,” he said.
The FY27 list represents the beginning of SPACECOM’s “pivot towards 2040” — a holistic effort to meet anticipated needs in the face of ever-increasing threats to US space systems from Russia, China and others, Whiting explained. And while he didn’t mention it today, US intelligence has tagged 2027 as the year China wants to be ready to take over Taiwan, though Chinese leader Xi Jinping reportedly denied the timeline.
At the top of the SPACECOM’s FY27 list is a requirement for “space fires to enable us to establish space superiority,” Whiting said.
Whiting didn’t say exactly what he meant by “space fires,” and a SPACECOM spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time. SPACECOM has used the phrase sparingly since at least 2022 — including in the FY26 integrated priorities list [PDF], which cited a need for “Integrated Space Fires and Protection”— and Whiting mentioned it in his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 29.
For many years, Pentagon officials have been wary of discussing even the possibility of utilizing “offensive” space weapons due to political sensitivities and classification issues. In recent months, however, senior Space Force officials have been more forthright in acknowledging the role for space forces and/or systems to hold adversary space systems in harm’s way.
For example, Space Force chief Gen. Chance Saltzman defined space superiority as “activities that protect the Joint Force and the Nation from space and counterspace threats” last September in his 16th Commander’s Note. Similarly, Whiting said today that SPACECOM “must protect the Joint Force from space-enabled attack.”
The Army long has used the term “fires” to refer to defensive and offensive launch operations both close-in and. more recently. at very long ranges.
Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey, head of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, said today that to support SPACECOM space fires operations, his service is working on a “range” of “non-kinetic capabilities” to counter adversary systems.
“Non-kinetic is the space we operate in,” he told reporters in a roundtable here today.
For his part, Whiting elaborated that space fires are supported by “advanced space domain awareness operations” — which in turn require “enhanced battlespace awareness for space operations.”
Also on his FY27 investment priority list are “resilient, timely operational space command and control to enhance machine-to-machine connectivity to support decision-making on tactically relevant timelines;” as well as space system cyber defenses, and an “assured satellite telemetry, tracking, and commanding architecture.”
Finally, Whiting said, SPACECOM FY27 needs include “missile defeat effects, which will significantly enhance our ability to defeat trans-regional ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missile threats, as well as air-launched or ground-launched, direct ascent/descent threats.” These will involve “new and innovative approaches, across all domains, which evolve beyond point solutions and one versus one missile interceptors.”
He stressed that all the services and the Missile Defense Agency are “actively working” on these capabilities, and that his command “is positioned to leverage the strengths of these diverse approaches.”
“Developing and deploying a multi-layered missile defense architecture is paramount — incorporating ground-based interceptors, sea-based systems, and space-based sensors working in tandem to provide comprehensive coverage, and flipping the cost equation between our defenses and the threats they protect against,” Whiting said. He noted that a key issue will be “addressing the unique challenges posed by hypersonic glide vehicles and other advanced maneuvering missile systems.”
A little bit farther into the future, but still focused on 2040, Whiting said SPACECOM sees “dynamic space operations” as necessary.
“There is a lot implied when we start to unpack what we need to conduct dynamic space operations, whether it is on-orbit refueling, on-orbit maintenance, responsive launch, or other ways to achieve sustained maneuver and in-domain logistics on orbit,” he explained. “I also think it will become increasingly important to make our space-enabling infrastructure more resilient and survivable. Exploring ways to increase mobility and proliferation will become key facets of the way we envision fighting in 2040.”
Capabilities to operate in cislunar space, the vast swath of the heavens lying between the Earth and the Moon, further will become a SPACECOM mission as NASA and commercial firms pursue lunar “colonization” and other related activities.
“Lastly, creating integrated defense networks is crucial, facilitating seamless coordination and response across different domains and Allied nations, ensures a unified defense strategy against evolving missile threats,” Whiting said. “Enhancing global sensor management is foundational for achieving comprehensive situational awareness, increased understanding of the operational environment, and effective threat detection.”
Ashley Roque contributed to this report.
