Though rarely featured in public demonstrations of military capability, satellites are indispensable to the defense of America and its allies. They offer near-immediate warning of missile launches, enable strategic communications, and provide precise positioning and timing information for navigation and weapon guidance, to name just a few examples.
The Golden Dome for America鈥攁 multi-domain, layered missile and air defense architecture that includes satellites for sensing, tracking and countering advanced missile threats鈥攚ill deepen America鈥檚 dependence on space assets for security. Our adversaries, fully aware of the asymmetrical advantages provided by superior space capabilities, have been demonstrating the ability to put critical U.S. assets at risk for the last two decades.
鈥淭he visibility, predictability and reconstitution timelines associated with current military space architectures favor the actor that goes on the offense first,鈥 U.S. Space Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said in March 2023. 鈥淭his is an unstable condition that works against deterring attacks on space assets. We can鈥檛 have that.鈥
Gen. Saltzman has proposed a space deterrence theory called 鈥淐ompetitive Endurance,鈥 which he describes as the ability to protect U.S. space assets while denying an adversary鈥檚 hostile use of its space assets. He listed several features of an architecture capable of achieving Competitive Endurance, including disaggregation, diversification, proliferation and maneuverability.
