Archive: October 24, 2024

Space Force orders more missile-tracking satellites from Millennium

Millennium Space Systems will build six more satellites in the first phase of an effort to develop a constellation of missile-tracking satellites in medium Earth orbit, the Space Force announced Wednesday.

The firm, a Boeing subsidiary, was already on contract to deliver six spacecraft for the Missile Track Custody, or MTC, program, and the new order deal brings its total contribution to 12. The first batch of satellites is on track for delivery in 2026 and the company plans to deliver the second batch of satellites in late 2027, Lindsay Dewald, Millennium’s program manager for the effort, told Defense News.

“We have successfully demonstrated the maturation of our design in all of our review milestones to date, addressed technical concerns that the customer may have and are moving full force into the production and integration test phase,” Dewald said in an interview Tuesday. “The dedicated production line that we’ve stood up for MTC is something that enables us to add additional vehicles and be ready to deliver.”

The $386 million contract is less than the $509 million deal the company was awarded for the first six satellites. Dewald attributed that change to the efficiencies that come with increasing production quantities.

The new order follows Space Systems Command’s decision in May to oust RTX from the program. The company had been on contract to deliver three satellites but struggled to maintain cost and schedule performance.

Speaking Wednesday at SSC’s Space Industry Days event in Los Angeles, Col. Rob Davis praised the program’s quick response to RTX’s removal.

“When one of our two industry partners struggled with delivering on cost and schedule, we were able to quickly pivot and still maintain program progress by turning to the performing vendor,” said Davis, SSC’s program executive officer for space sensing.

The MTC program is one piece of the Space Force’s plan to make its on-orbit missile warning and tracking capabilities more resilient against growing threats from China and Russia. Today, those satellites either reside in geosynchronous orbit — about 22,000 miles above Earth — or in highly elliptical orbit beyond GEO. The Space Development Agency is also launching a fleet of more than 100 satellites in low Earth orbit, less than 1,200 miles above the equator.

Through MTC, the service plans to launch warning and tracking satellites to medium Earth orbit, located between 1,200 and 2,200 miles above Earth, where space sensors can observe a larger area. The Space Force expects to upgrade the satellites’ technology, launching new batches, or epochs, of spacecraft every few years. In August, the service issued a request for proposals for its second MTC epoch.

Millennium’s first 12 MTC satellites, part of Epoch 1, will carry an electro-optical infrared payload built by Boeing that uses advanced sensors to detect and track heat signatures from missile threats. The spacecraft will then use an onboard processing system to analyze that data.

Dewald noted that Millennium is working closely with its suppliers to ensure they can continue to deliver on schedule despite an increased buy from the Space Force. The second batch of satellites, she said, is a “build-to-print” design of the first six spacecraft, which means the focus will be on maintaining a steady production cadence.

“It’s really just continuing the production line — not only at our vehicle level but at our vendor level as well — to deliver on time,” she said. “It’s really building off the relationships that we already have with those vendors to continue to execute additional orders. And our vendors have been working hard to prepare for these additional orders.”

Attack on Turkish defense firm clears the halls of local arms fair

UPDATE: Saha Expo organizers on Wednesday evening canceled portions of the remainder of the arms fair, which was due to run all week.

ISTANBUL — Turkish government and industry officials were rushed out of the country’s largest defense show here on Wednesday following an attack on a national aerospace company near the capital city of Ankara.

At least four people have been killed and 14 injured in a “terrorist attack” against state-run Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI, or TUSAS) headquarters in Kahramankazan, near Ankara, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement.

The assault took place on the second day of the country’s largest defense fair, Saha Expo, organized here from Oct 22-26.

In the late afternoon of Oct. 23, a number of sirens were heard outside of the expo’s venue as responders headed towards the nearby highways. A number of Turkish government and industry officials were then rushed to cars waiting outside, although it was unclear which companies they represented.

TAI’s general manager, Mehmet Demiroglu, was among those who left Saha Expo early to return to Ankara, roughly 280 miles to the east, state news agency Anadolu reported.

Additional police cars were placed in front of the Turkish Airlines Flight Training Center located next to the exhibition hall.

It was unclear on Wednesday if the defense expo would continue the following day. While organizer representatives initially told Defense News that it was likely to run as planned, they canceled the remainder of the show on Wednesday evening.

Assailants set off explosives and opened fire in an attack Wednesday on the premises of the national aerospace company, killing four people and wounding several, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

At least two of the attackers died, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

“We have four martyrs. We have 14 wounded. I condemn this heinous terrorist attack and wish mercy on our martyrs,” Erdogan said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in Kazan, Russia.

Putin offered him condolences over the attack.

Selim Cirpanoglu, mayor of the district of Kahramankazan, told The Associated Press that the attack on the company in the outskirts of the capital, Ankara, had abated but could not provide more details.

It was not clear who may be behind it. Kurdish militants, the Islamic State group and leftist extremists have carried out attacks in the country in the past.

Security camera images from the attack, aired on television, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle.

Turkish media said three assailants, including a woman, arrived at an entry to the complex inside a taxi. The assailants, who were carrying assault weapons, then detonated an explosive device next to the taxi, causing panic and allowing them to enter the complex.

Multiple gunshots were heard after Turkish security forces entered the site, the DHA news agency and other media reported. Helicopters were seen flying above the premises.

TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles both civilian and military aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defense industry and space systems. The UAVs have been instrumental in Turkey gaining an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants in Turkey and across the border in Iraq.

Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said the target of the attack was Turkey’s “success in the defense industry.”

“It should be known that these attacks will not be able to deter the heroic employees of defense industry,” he wrote on X.

With material from the Associated Press.

Donated Aussie Abrams tanks to receive baptism of fire in Ukraine

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Some have predicted the demise of heavy armored vehicles on future battlefields, but Australian defense officials, in words and actions, are underscoring the enduring relevance of the main battle tank.

On Oct. 17, Australia pledged to gift 49 second-hand M1A1 AIM Abrams tanks to Ukraine. This came just weeks after a first batch of new M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams replacements arrived in Australia from the U.S.

Australia never utilized its 59 M1A1 Abrams in combat, but they will soon be used in anger against Russian invaders in Ukraine. Boasting a 120mm main gun, thick armor and advanced sensors, older Abrams still remain a formidable battlefield weapon, whether in Ukraine or the Asia-Pacific region.

“There are no other current or emerging technologies – or combination of technologies – that can yet deliver the capability currently provided by a main battle tank,” an Australian Department of Defence spokesperson told Defense News.

Brigadier James Davis, the Australian Army’s director general of Future Land Warfare, told Defense News that crew skills – “the basics of warfare, camouflage, concealment” – remain as important as ever amid the advent of loitering munitions and similar threats.

Captured Leopard 2 resurfaces at Russia’s main tank factory

“That’s how Western armored vehicles – and Australian armored vehicles – crewed by Western crews and Australian crews, are going to survive on the battlefield; a combination of training, tactics, technology and systems,” he said.

The tank donation to Kyiv, worth approximately A$245 million (US$164 million), will “bolster the armed forces of Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion,” Canberra said.

Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery Pat Conroy commented, “These tanks will deliver more firepower and mobility to the Ukrainian armed forces, and complement the support provided by our partners for Ukraine.”

In response to the news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted, “I’m especially grateful for Australia’s brave decision to provide 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks for our defense against Russian aggression.”

American permission was required for this handover, but Ukrainian crews are already familiar with the platform after the U.S. promised to donate 31 M1A1 SA Abrams to Ukraine in January 2023. Perhaps half have been destroyed to date.

Australia will retain ten M1A1 tanks, and these will assist in the transition to its own fleet of M1A2s. Under Project Land 907, approved in January 2022, the Australian Army is receiving 75 M1A2 SEPv3 tanks, 29 M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicles, 17 M1074 Joint Assault Bridges and six additional M88A2 armored recovery vehicles.

Under the Australian military’s restructure announced in 2023′s Defence Strategic Review, the Army’s 3rd Brigade in Townsville will be the sole repository of this heavy-armor influx.

To date, Australian military assistance for Ukraine is valued at more than A$1.3 billion, and it includes Bushmaster protected vehicles, M113AS4 armored personnel carriers and M777 howitzers.

Pentagon chief Austin confirms North Korea has sent troops to Russia

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said there is evidence that North Korea has sent troops to Russia on Monday, and South Korea’s spy chief told lawmakers that 3,000 North Korean troops are in the country receiving training on drones and other equipment before being deployed to battlefields in Ukraine.

Austin told reporters Wednesday “What exactly they are doing? Left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out,” according to a video posted by the Washington Post.

If the troops join the war in Ukraine on Russia’s side, it will be “a very, very serious issue,” Austin said, adding it would have an impact in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific region.

South Korean intelligence first publicized reports that the Russian navy had taken 1,500 North Korean special warfare troops to Russia last week, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier said his government had intelligence that 10,000 North Korea soldiers were being prepared to join the invading Russian forces.

The U.S. and NATO had not previously formally confirmed North Korea’s reported troop dispatch, but have warned of the danger of such a development if true. Russia and North Korea have so far denied the troop movements.

South Korean National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong told lawmakers that said another 1,500 North Korean troops have entered Russia in a closed-door meeting, according to lawmaker Park Sunwon, who attended the briefing.

Cho told lawmakers that his agency assessed that North Korea aims to deploy a total of 10,000 troops to Russia by December, Park told reporters.

Park cited Cho as saying the 3,000 North Korean soldiers sent to Russia have been split among multiple military bases and are in training. Cho told lawmakers that NIS believes they have yet to be deployed in battle, according to Park.

Speaking jointly with Park about the NIS briefing, lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun said that the NIS found that the Russian military is now teaching those North Korean soldiers how to use military equipment such as drones.

Lee cited the NIS chief as saying Russian instructors have high opinions of the morale and physical strength of the North Korean soldiers but think they will eventually suffer a heavy causalities because they lack an understanding of modern warfare. Lee, citing Cho, said Russia is recruiting a large number of interpreters.

Lee said NIS has detected signs that North Korea is relocating family members of soldiers chosen to be sent to Russia to special sites to isolate them.

The NIS chief told lawmakers that North Korea hasn’t disclosed its troop dispatch to its own people. But there are rumors that the news is spreading to local residents, including those whose loved ones have been assigned Russian tours, Lee said, citing the NIS.

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate head, Kyrylo Budanov, told the online military news outlet The War Zone that North Korean troops will arrive to Russia’s Kursk region today to help Russian troops fighting off a Ukrainian incursion.

North Korea and Russia, embroiled in separate confrontations with the West, have been sharply boosting their cooperation in the past two years. In June, they signed a major defense deal requiring both countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.

The NIS said last week that North Korea had sent more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.

Reports that the North is sending troops to Russia stoked security jitters in South Korea. South Korean officials worry that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated weapons technologies that could boost the North’s nuclear and missile programs that target South Korea.

South Korea said Tuesday it would consider supplying weapons to Ukraine in response to the North’s reported troop dispatch. South Korea has shipped humanitarian and financial support to Ukraine, but it has so far avoided directly supplying arms to Ukraine in line with its policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflicts.

North Korea has 1.2 million troops, one of the largest standing armies in the world, but it hasn’t fought in large-scale conflicts since the 1950-53 Korean War. Many experts question how much North Korean troops would help Russia, citing a shortage of battle experience. They say North Korea wants to get Russian economic support and its help to modernize the North’s outdated conventional weapons systems as well as its high-tech weapons technology transfers.

Norway to develop new NASAMS radar with Raytheon and Kongsberg

MILAN — The Norwegian Ministry of Defense will co-develop a new radar in partnership with Raytheon and Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace to boost the capabilities of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) against high-value targets.

The next-generation sensor will be based on the existing Raytheon GhostEye family of radars, with one of the key upgrades focused on increased range, according to company representatives.

“We can’t provide performance specifics, but the radar’s capabilities will far exceed NASAMS’ current sensor configuration – this is largely driven by the active electronically scanned array and gallium nitride (GaN) technology featured in the GhostEye family of radars,” Mike Mills, executive director of GhostEye programs at Raytheon told Defense News.

The GhostEye is a medium-range air and missile defense radar that was first showcased by the company in 2021, designed to detect and identify a wide-range of threats including cruise missiles, drones and rotary-wing aircraft.

While the radar’s range information is not available on the manufacturer’s website, observers have estimated that it may be able to observe targets as far as 120 kilometers away.

This will be the first project developed under the NASAMS Capabilities Collaborative Agreement, which was signed in 2023 by the Norwegian MoD, Kongsberg and Raytheon.

The production of the radars’ components will be carried out in both Norway and the United States, Mills said, declining to say when deliveries would begin, as discussions about that aspect of the systems’ development are still ongoing.

In June, Norway signed a $440 million contract with Kongsberg to acquire new NASAMS air defense systems with expected deliveries from 2027 to replace equipment previously donated to Ukraine.

The Nordic nation initially sent two batteries of the air defense systems to Kyiv in March of 2023, followed by additional shipments in December, and plans to order more for the war-torn country.

“Norway has decided to build their future Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) with the NASAMS architecture as the backbone,” Hans Christian Hagen, vice president for business development of air and coastal defense at Kongsberg said in an email statement to Defense News.

“The development of the next-gen radar is a natural step for Norway as the lead nation and will address requirements to meet the mobility aspects for a flexible and agile system,” the company executive added.

NASAMS are in operation in 13 countries, as they are able to use a wide variety of air-to-air missiles, including the AMRAAM, which a considerable number of NATO countries already possess.

Pentagon OKs first batch of private capital funds for loan program

The first round of private capital funds flowing through a joint Pentagon and Small Business Administration loan program will invest nearly $3 billion in more than 1,000 defense-technology companies.

The Pentagon announced on Tuesday its Office of Strategic Capital approved 13 private funds to participate in the first installment of its Small Business Investment Company Critical Technology Initiative, or SBICCT. Established last fall, the effort aims to draw private capital funding to companies advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, space and advanced materials that could have significant implications for national security. Each fund has access to up to $175 million in loans.

Over the last 20 years, the Pentagon has seen a drop in private capital investment into the technology areas it deems critical. Many of those areas are hardware intensive and require significant funding to generate a meaningful return for investors. Jason Rathje, who leads the Office of Strategic Capital, told reporters the SBICCT Initiative is specifically targeting that challenge.

“The ‘so-what’ of this program is it allows us to incentivize the capital markets to start investing more into our critical technology areas because it changes the return profile,” he said.

By partnering with the Small Business Administration, the Defense Department wants to take advantage of the organization’s track record of directing venture capital funding toward projects that have significant economic impact.

“This first group of SBICCT Initiative funds represents a consequential milestone in demonstrating the power of public-private partnerships to build enduring advantage by growing and modernizing our supply chains, strengthening our economic and national security, and benefiting the development and commercialization of critical technologies that are key drivers of our U.S. industrial base,” Heidi Shyu, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said in a statement.

The Office of Strategic Capital was established in 2022 to drive private sector capital toward defense technologies. Tuesday’s announcement follows the Pentagon’s establishment last month of a $1 billion fund to provide direct loans to companies that make in-demand defense component technologies. The effort aims to help companies fund the construction of equipment needed to scale production across 31 technology areas it has deemed critical to U.S. national security.

“In our 2024 investment strategy, we talked about how we needed to build different strategies for different parts of the capital market and different parts of our critical technology space,” Rathje said. “What we have been able to do over the last year is really accomplish the programs, the financial products that OSC is offering.”

Lending tools like these are new to the Pentagon, but federal agencies like the Energy and Commerce departments have a long history of using credit programs to support key industries. OSC projects its SBICCT Initiative will continue to grow. More than 100 funds have expressed interest in the effort, and the Pentagon will now accept applications on a quarterly basis.

Germany, UK to sign pact on long-range weapons, sweeping defense ties

COLOGNE, Germany — The defense ministers of Germany and the U.K. plan to sign a new defense agreement on Wednesday that will see the two countries develop new long-range strike weapons, prioritize securing NATO’s eastern flank and field a new class of drones for accompanying their battle tank formations, according to separate statements from the two governments.

Called the Trinity House Agreement, the pact amounts to a comprehensive reboot of defense relations between London and Berlin that had lacked structure since Britain formally exited the European Union in early 2020.

The jam-packed agenda touches all military domains – air, land, sea, and cyber – showcasing Rheinmetall as a linchpin of industrial cooperation for land forces, and MBDA, with its Storm Shadow cruise missile, as the nucleus for a future, joint long-range strike weapon.

Stationing long-range missiles in Europe, including from the United States, has become a key pillar in NATO plans to deter Russian aggression against the continent.

Under the new plan, German defense contractor Rheinmetall and its British subsidiary will open a factory for making artillery gun barrels using locally made steel, re-establishing a capability given up by the British a decade a ago, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defence statement. The first barrels are slated to roll off the production line in 2027.

Rheinmetall unveils UK’s upgraded Challenger 3 battle tank

British and German troops, with their growing presence in eastern Europe aimed at securing NATO’s eastern flank, are slated to intensify their joint training, using their forward position as a “catalyst for developing new ways of fighting,” the British statement reads.

In the maritime domain, the two nations pledge to cooperate on new technology for monitoring vital undersea cables and pipelines in the North Sea, a key concern for defense planners in Europe amid Russian espionage against such targets.

“The UK and Germany are moving closer together,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was quoted as saying in a statement circulated to reporters on the eve of the Trinity House Agreement’s signing.

“With projects across the air, land, sea, and cyber domains, we will jointly increase our defense capabilities, thereby strengthening the European pillar within NATO,” he added. “We can only strengthen our ability to act together. This is why our cooperation projects are open to other partners.”

The British statement characterized the new defense pact with Germany as an example of the new Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer “resetting” relations with European allies.

An impending, overarching cooperation agreement with Germany beyond military matters is meant to complete a trio of separate bilateral pacts linking Britain and France, France and Germany, and Britain and Germany.

“The Trinity House Agreement is a milestone moment in our relationship with Germany and a major strengthening of Europe’s security,” British Defense Minister John Healey was quoted as saying.

As for support to Ukraine, an immediate step under the new pact will be outfitting donated German Sea King helicopters with “modern missile systems,” the British statement reads. In addition, the U.K. will play a bigger role in a Polish- and German-led armor support coalition for Kyiv, while Germany will do the same in a British-Latvian-led group devoted to drones.

Australia announces $4.7 billion purchase of US air defense missiles

Australia announced this week it was buying $4.7 billion in American-made SM-2 and SM-6 missiles — two of the world’s most advanced air defense interceptors — in a colossal foreign military sale.

The two governments finished the deal this spring but unveiled it Tuesday, Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said. He declined to give specific delivery numbers or a schedule, only saying that the funding would last for a decade.

“There was a strong view we needed to both upgrade the capability of air defense, but also increase the numbers of missiles we’re holding,” Conroy said in an interview while visiting Washington.

Missile defense is one of the top priorities listed in Australia’s 2024 defense strategy, published this April, which name drops the SM-6. In the plan, the government pledged to double its number of major warships and build a firmer defense industry of its own — as the country, like America, accepts competition with China as the norm.

Canberra’s defense budget, published a month after in May, committed a record $37 billion, or just over 2% of GDP, toward its military. The government aims to reach 2.3% of GDP, right now around $67 billion, by 2033-2034.

The SM, or Standard Missile, Block IIIC and 6 included in the sale will help Australia defend against advanced missile attacks and, in the case of the latter, can provide an anti-ship weapon. The American missile company Raytheon manufactures both, which have a medium and long range respectively.

“This combination of long range air defense, anti-ship strike capability … and giving us our first ability to defend against ballistic missiles through terminal ballistic missile defense was a huge step forward for our navy,” Conroy said.

Australia became the first country outside America to fire the SM-6 from a warship this August, when the HMAS Sydney shot one during a military drill near Hawaii. The Pentagon’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget requests 125 of the missiles for its own stocks.

The Army also adopted the SM-6 as part of its mid-range missile launcher that deployed to the Philippines this year, a mission that irked China.

While in Washington, Conroy met with the deputy secretary of defense and heads of the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, where they discussed work between the two defense industries and progress on the AUKUS agreement between Australia, the U.S. and Great Britain — a deal to share nuclear-powered submarines and advanced technology.

Lockheed feels financial pinch from F-35 upgrade, contract delays

Lockheed Martin expects to strike a deal with the U.S. government by the end of the year to build the 18th and 19th lots of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, company officials said in an earnings call Tuesday.

But the delay in reaching the contract for upcoming batches of F-35s — along with multi-million dollar payments the government is withholding from Lockheed until the newest fighters can fly in combat — is costing the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

Lockheed’s aeronautics sector reported $6.5 billion in sales in the third quarter of 2024, a 3% decline from one year earlier, as well as a 2% decline in aeronautics profit. Officials said higher volume on C-130 aircraft and belt-tightening on spending helped it absorb most of the F-35 losses.

The U.S. government at the end of 2023 authorized Lockheed to start initial work on lots 18 and 19, and awarded the company an advance acquisition contract to fund production and ensure they didn’t fall behind schedule.

But that initial funding has run out, Lockheed said, and the company said it incurred about $700 million in delayed revenue on the F-35 in the third quarter.

The earnings call with investors provided more insight into the financial repercussions Lockheed is facing as it tries to recover from a year-long F-35 delivery delay, stemming from software and hardware troubles with an upgrade known as Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3.

TR-3 is meant to give the jets improved displays, computers and processing power, beginning with lot 15. But software integration problems and hardware delays meant the upgrades did not work as intended, and the government refused to accept jets intended to have TR-3.

Lockheed developed an interim version of the software that allows TR-3 jets to fly combat training missions, which satisfied the government enough to resume deliveries this summer. But those jets are not yet able to fly in combat, and won’t be until 2025.

Lockheed delivered its first 48 F-35s of the year in the third quarter, chief executive Jim Taiclet told investors, and expects to deliver between 90 and 110 jets by the end of 2024.

That is less than the roughly 156 jets Lockheed typically aims to produce and deliver annually, and about in line with the 98 fighters the company delivered in 2023, as the delivery halt began.

Lockheed expects to take a $600 million hit in 2024 on the delays associated with lots 15 through 17 jets, chief financial officer Jay Malave told investors. But he expects the company to recover those costs over the next few years.

While Lockheed Martin won’t deliver its full complement of F-35s in 2024, Malave said the company expects to deliver about 180 annually over the subsequent three years, as it works through its backlog.

Malave also expects the government to start releasing withheld payments starting next year, as TR-3 improves. The F-35 Joint Program Office is withholding about $5 million in payments for each jet until they are fully combat-capable. About 95% of the new TR-3 jets’ combat capabilities have been validated, Taiclet told investors.

Malave expects Lockheed to receive about $300 million to $400 million more in 2025 as it delivers more jets and withheld payments from the government start to shake loose, with more to come in 2026.

“Cash collections will smooth out over this period of time,” Malave said.

But some lawmakers have lost patience with Lockheed and its difficulties with the F-35.

Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Seth Moulton, D-Mass., on Tuesday introduced a resolution that would say Lockheed and its subcontractors have failed to deliver what the company promised on the F-35, and that the Pentagon has failed to hold the program accountable.

The proposed resolution outlines a litany of shortcomings with the F-35, most recently its TR-3 troubles and the delays in future upgrades known as Block 4 that are now resulting.

“Its unacceptable to leave the American taxpayer on the hook for a broken system and allow appropriators in Congress to divest funds from service members’ child care to invest in broken F-35s,” Gaetz said. “We must stop rewarding failure and prioritize our military families.”

Space Force needs plan, funding to counter China’s rapid space growth

In 2012, China had less than 100 satellites in orbit. Last month, the country launched its 1,000th spacecraft.

That milestone, according to the U.S. Space Force’s top intelligence officer, demonstrates the evolution and growth China’s space enterprise has undergone in the last decade. But for the Defense Department, the concern is as much about the mission of the spacecraft its adversary is operating as it is about the number of satellites.

“Those satellites are meant to sense, decide and track this force. And with extensively long shot ranges, they have created a formidable weapons engagement zone in the Pacific,” Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Intelligence Maj. Gen. Gregory Gagnon said Oct. 16 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington.

Gagnon earlier this year described the rapid buildup of the People’s Liberation Army’s space capabilities as a “strategic breakout.”

“An adversary arming like this is profoundly concerning,” he said in May at a Mitchell Institute event.

For the Space Force, countering China’s advancements in space is a mission in and of itself, Gagnon told Defense News in an interview on the sidelines of AUSA. The service will need more funding to build the satellites and sensors that can see, track and respond to the PLA’s growing in-orbit fleet, he said. It will also need to craft a clear operational vision from the service that the joint force and international partners can coalesce around.

While the Space Force has made progress in recent years articulating its role within DOD and building partners with industry, the service can only move fast if it has funding to maintain existing capabilities and support new missions, Gagnon said. Nearly half of the Space Force’s $30 billion budget funds “joint force enablers” like positioning, navigation and timing, missile warning and satellite communications that are critical to operations across the land, sea and air domains.

The service needs more funding to maintain those capabilities, Gagnon said, but if it’s going to protect against and respond to aggression from adversaries like China, it needs to expand its space domain awareness and counter-space systems.

“We have to change the architectures and satellites we use today to make them more resilient and effective. But in addition to that, we have to add new missions,” he said. “The aerospace forces of the PLA want to attack our capabilities in space. It’s part of their operational design and doctrine and we expect that they will do it. That’s why they’re building those weapons.”

Air Force and Space Force leaders have been pushing for the service to have a larger share of the Pentagon’s budget. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Defense News in June that the service’s funding will need to double or triple in the coming years to support demand for space capabilities.

To garner more support from within DOD for its funding needs, the Space Force is drafting a more detailed “North Star” plan for how it will contribute to the joint fight over the next 10 to 15 years, Gagnon said. That force design work is happening now and will soon be led by the new Space Futures Command.

The plan will be informed by requirements from the other military services and will lay out what resources and capabilities the Space Force will need to meet those demands.

“We need that North Star, that plan, written so that they can see what our plan is and then be an advocate for us to gain additional money to make that a reality,” Gagnon said.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations, told Defense News this summer that the first iteration of that plan should be completed in the fall of 2025.