The Space Force goes into action. In a few years, all the operational forces of the United States will be forced to pass through the capabilities of the new armed force in order to have valuable information on the movements on the ground, in the theater, of the opponents. And the news announced yesterday by General John W. Raymond , known as Jay, head of US space operations, who has accustomed the American public (and not only) to progressive unveiling of the capabilities of the Space Force. GROUND MONITORING
For years we have been thinking about how to replace the JStars aircraft, acronym for “Joint surveillance target attack radar system”, the E-8 built by Northrop Grumman for the US Air Force and US Army. It entered service in 1997, and the spearhead of the capabilities of “Ground moving target indicator” (Gmti), ie the possibility of identifying and following the movements of vehicles and people on the ground, collecting information and disseminating it to the forces in the theater. And a modified Boeing 707, a command-and-control flying platform. Like the JStars, the U2 spy plane (by Lockheed Martin) and the Global Hawk drone are also used for Gmti. The capacity in question is considered to be of increasing importance in modern operational scenarios, increasingly directed towards the “highly contested environment”. THE PROJECT
The big news announced by General Raymond is that the US Space Force will be responsible for identifying the solution to replace the JStars. They will not be aircraft, but satellites. “You will see that it will be another area to actively work on to be able to deliver GMTI capabilities,” the general said while attending the McAleese FY2022 Defense Programs Conference yesterday, which was carefully reviewed by DefenseOne. For the newly formed armed force it would be a significant leap, accompanied by everything related to the program, from contracts to its subsequent management. It means that GMTI’s information on ground movements will be collected and disseminated not by the Intelligence communities, but directly by the Space Force, which would become enabling for all other armed forces. AMBITIONS
“Our goal is to increase American military power, considering that space systems will take on an ever greater role in military missions,” Raymond himself explained in December, writing an editorial for The Atlantic. All other Armed Forces, he added, depend on space capabilities, especially for communications and navigation. The goal is to be able to increase these capacities, but also to anticipate the possibility of a direct confrontation in Space. This is the goal of the formal birth of the US Space Force at the end of 2019, with Donald Trump signing the military budget for the following year. Today the “Guardians” (as the military of the Space Force are called) are about four thousand. 2020 was a preparatory step for the new armed force to strengthen. THE STAGES
In March of last year, the AEHF-6 satellite for secure communications, the first mission beyond orbit with the hat of the sixth armed force of the United States, departed. In April, 86 new lieutenants graduated from the Air Force Academy of Colorado Springs arrived, destined to go down in history as “the class of 2020”, the first dedicated to the Space Force. In May, from the Oval Office, the unveiling of the flag of the Armed Forces (the USA has not presented a new one for 72 years): black background, “United States Space Force MMXIX” written at the bottom, and in the center, surrounded by stars, the logo already unveiled in January (not without social hilarity due to the resemblance to Star Trek). In December, then, the first astronaut to wear the colors of the Space Force, when Colonel Michael Hopkins, then aboard the ISS, he swore his oath for the transition from the Air Force to the Space Force.
