Space stability is a fundamental U.S. national security interest. Unfortunately, that stability may be eroding. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. military forces have repeatedly demonstrated their dominance in conventional warfare, and future enemies will be well aware that the dramatic warfighting advantage that U.S. forces possess is largely the result of support from space. With a growing number of states acquiring the ability to degrade or destroy U.S. ...Read more >

The study of warfare and its theory development have uncovered several preeminent principles that drive universal efforts in pursuit of military supremacy. Two of those fundamentals are the enduring pursuit of technological advance to generate superiority over an enemy and the securing of the high ground to enable strategic surveillance and intelligence. These two tenets of warfare quickly, naturally, and perhaps unknowingly converged as man turned its eyes to ...Read more >

The role of information warfare in global strategic competition has become much more apparent in recent years. Today’s practitioners of what this report terms hostile social manipulation employ targeted social media campaigns, sophisticated forgeries, cyberbullying and harassment of individuals, distribution of rumors and conspiracy theories, and other tools and approaches to cause damage to the target ...Read more >

The U.S. government has launched a Space Force with the congressional passage and presidential signature of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. On February 19, 2019, President Donald J. Trump signed a directive ordering the Department of Defense to submit a legislative proposal for the establishment of the U.S. Space Force within the Department of the Air Force as a sixth branch of the armed forces, and Congress has now acted to create the ...Read more >

This report explores the missions and organization of China’s military space enterprise. It focuses on the organizational structure of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Strategic Support Force (SSF). Created on December 31, 2015, as part of a major reorganization of China’s military, the SSF is charged with developing and employing most of the PLA’s space capabilities. Tasked with integrating space more closely into operations, the creation of the SSF signifies an important shift ...Read more >

Movies portray wars in space much as they do wars on Earth. Starfighters dogfight with unlimited maneuverability and range. Troop transports drop from orbit to celestial surfaces to deliver space marines. But that is not how a real war in space would look for decades, if ever. The space-to-space engagements in a modern conflict would be fought solely with un-crewed vehicles controlled by operators on the ground and heavily constrained by the limits physics imposes on movement in ...Read more >

I n direct response to the launch of the Sputnik 1 Soviet spacecraft, pioneers in the U.S. military orchestrated a series of milestones that propelled America’s status as the preeminent spacefaring Nation. Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 31 January 1958, the U.S. Army spacecraft Explorer 1 was the first American spacecraft to orbit the Earth.3 Two months later, the U.S. Navy successfully orbited Vanguard 1, demonstrating the first solar powered spacecraft.4 That same ...Read more >

Sometimes, slow, steady changes produce revolutionary results. A case in point is missile and space technologies. Long-range missiles, satellites, and space launch vehicles used to be high technology exclusive to the superpowers. Now, scores of states have both. As for ballistic missiles and drones, even non-state actors have them, and these systems are far more accurate than anything the superpowers had even at the height of the Cold ...Read more >

Department of Space (DOS) being the administrative ministry in respect of space activities in India as per the allocation of Business Rules of Government of India, shall issue appropriate norms, guidelines and procedures from time to time for the space based remote sensing activities for the developmental purposes in India. Accordingly, a draft “Space-based Remote Sensing Policy of India (SpaceRS Policy 2020)” and draft ...Read more >

From a security perspective, an increasing number of countries are looking to use space to enhance their military capabilities and national security. The growing use of, and reliance on, space for national security has also led more countries to look at developing their own counterspace capabilities that can be used to deceive, disrupt, deny, degrade, or destroy space systems. The existence of counterspace capabilities is not new, but the circumstances surrounding them are. Today ...Read more >

THE PAST YEAR HAS BEEN ONE OF UNCERTAINTY and unpredictability driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, the ensuing global recession, and political change in the United States. For space security, however, 2020 was largely a year of continuity and predictability. Perhaps the most notable change in the space environment since the last CSIS Space Threat Assessment was published is the addition of some 900 SpaceX Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), bringing the total constellation size to ...Read more >

ATP 6-02.54 expands on the doctrinal foundations and tenets found in FM 6-02. This publication identifies and explains the role of satellite communications as a part of the transport layer of the Department of Defense information network-Army. The vision for the Department of Defense Information Network-Army is the employment of an end-to-end network that provides assured global command and control and enables the Army to fight and win in a contested and congested operating environment. ...Read more >

Space has become an inalienable part of our daily lives. For everything from agriculture and tele-medicine to national intelligence and surveillance, to everyday navigation and communication, access to space is critical. Modern societies have gotten so accustomed to using outer space that a day without access to outer space is inconceivable. For much of the brief space age, this domain was dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia. However, over the last couple of ...Read more >

Department of Space being the administrative ministry in respect of space activities in India as per the allocation of Business Rules of Government of India, shall issue appropriate norms, guidelines and procedures including approval-mechanism from time to time for the services in the areas of secured communication, commercial and societal services under Spacecom-2020. Accordingly, the Draft Space Based Communication Policy of ...Read more >

The United States is increasingly dependent on space systems for economic and military security. The expansion of government and commercial space capabilities has opened markets and made possible whole new industries within the United States and around the world. Ride-sharing apps such as Uber and Lyft, the ultra-efficient supply chains of businesses, and the grocery delivery services many depended on during the Covid-19 pandemic would not be possible without the U.S. military-operated ...Read more >