The bilateral rendezvous and proximity operation "illustrates France's ability to conduct dynamic and responsible operations to deter adversaries from acting against its space interests," according to France's Space Command.
Building dynamic space operations concepts will be necessary to force "flexibility," and provide capabilities for "maneuver and surprise" on orbit, the new report by the Mitchell Institute says.
Why edge and endpoint security can’t be an afterthought.
US Space Command has now completed two rendezvous and proximity operations with partners in Multinational Forces Operation Olympic Defender: France and Britain.
Space watchers and Alabama politicians have been predicting the move, as President Donald Trump had decided on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville as SPACECOM’s home just before he left the Oval Office for the first time in January 2021.
The Space Force, however, has been lukewarm on funding support for what it calls "Space Access, Mobility and Logistics."
One area where China has "moved breathtakingly fast is the fielding of a suite of counter space weapons," Gen. Stephen Whiting told Breaking Defense in his only press interview on a trip through Australia.
“Tactical operating system” for warfighters has evolved to provide more situational awareness of the battlefield.
"While this type of close approach activity does not automatically signify a military mission, it obviously could provide a co-orbital counterspace capability," expert Victoria Samson told Breaking Defense.
Crank said that while he hopes the caucus eventually will be bipartisan, at the moment he and Strong are the only members.
Based on its orbital pattern, independent astronomer Marco Langbroek said he suspected the new satellite is joining other Russian "sleeping interceptors."
Some decision-making authorities, previously closely held by the president or secretary of defense, have been delegated to US SPACECOM, according to sources, but military space leaders want more freedom to act.
Knowing when to build on commercial systems and when to develop something new can be the difference between parity and information dominance.
Gainey noted that the MOS 40D mission area will include operating the service's expanding ground-based electronic warfare arsenal for disrupting adversary space and counterspace systems.
Following the release of the report today, Alabama politicians began touting the new OIG report as justifying a Trump move to reverse Biden's basing decision.
"The US and France recently conducted our first ever bilateral rendezvous and proximity operation to demonstrate combined capabilities in space in the vicinity of a strategic competitor spacecraft," SPACECOM head Gen. Stephen Whiting said today.
On the eve of the third annual Space Mobility Conference here, supporters of Defense Department investment in technologies to enable what SPACECOM calls "dynamic space operations" are facing a recent cooling of near-term interest from senior Space Force officials.