08/04/2026

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The space fight starts on the ground

U.S. Space Command has published a new blueprint for how leaders think wars will be fought by 2040, and its central message is that protecting satellites alone won't be enough.

The Space Warfighting Environment 2040 argues that a military advantage will come from the resilience of the entire system connecting satellites, communications links and ground infrastructure. Rather than focusing on individual spacecraft, the command says the Pentagon needs networks that can continue providing communications, navigation, missile warning and intelligence even after being jammed, damaged or attacked.

That means more maneuverable and replaceable satellites, distributed ground stations, deeper integration with commercial providers and allies, and faster acquisition of new capabilities. The report identifies China's rapidly expanding space capabilities as the primary long-term pacing challenge, while describing Russia as more likely to rely on jamming, cyberattacks and information operations.

The report leans heavily on recent conflicts to make its case.

It points to Russia's war in Ukraine as evidence that disrupting GPS, satellite communications and data networks can be as effective as attacking satellites themselves. It also cites Iran's 2025 missile strike on the radome housing a U.S. satellite communications terminal at Al Udeid Air Base, arguing that the attack demonstrated how adversaries can target the ground infrastructure that enables military space operations.

The report further highlights Iran's reported use of commercially available, AI-enhanced satellite imagery as an example of how countries without sophisticated military space constellations can combine commercial data, electronic warfare and conventional weapons to threaten U.S. space-enabled operations.

The document is the first installment of what Space Command calls a "Space Trilogy," to be followed by studies of emerging issues and a formal warfighting concept for space.

Johns Hopkins' APL to serve as technical adviser for Golden Dome interceptor program

The Space Force has selected Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory to provide technical direction for its Space-Based Interceptor program, a move that adds an independent systems integrator to one of the most ambitious and unconventional acquisition efforts under the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative.

APL will help define and manage the technical standards linking Golden Dome’s fire-control software, ground systems and planned constellation of interceptors in low Earth orbit. The laboratory will also oversee the interface documents that allow separately developed technologies to work together, giving the government an independent assessment of whether competing contractors’ designs can be integrated into a single architecture.

The appointment reflects a key challenge in the Space Force’s acquisition strategy. Rather than selecting a single prime contractor, the service has awarded 20 Other Transaction Authority agreements to 12 companies, with a potential value of up to $3.2 billion, to develop competing interceptor concepts. Under the prize-based model, companies are expected to invest private capital during early development and compete for additional government funding as they reach technical milestones.

That approach is intended to bring commercial manufacturing techniques and venture-backed innovation into missile defense. But it also creates integration risks. Companies developing different interceptor, propulsion, sensing and software technologies could produce systems that perform well individually but are difficult to combine into a single operational network.

An independent technical adviser in this case would play an important role.

“This is another great example of our ongoing strong partnership with APL and highlights the critical nature of university affiliated research centers and federally funded research and development centers to the success of these vital space programs,” said Col. Bryon McClain, acting portfolio acquisition executive for Space Combat Power.

Golden Dome envisions a layered homeland missile defense architecture that would integrate ground-, air- and space-based sensors and interceptors to counter ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missile threats. The space-based interceptor program is examining a proliferated constellation capable of engaging missiles during the boost, midcourse and glide phases of flight.

Beyond demonstrating that an interceptor can operate in orbit, the system must integrate sensors, fire control, communications and command-and-control into a network capable of making engagement decisions within seconds.

The space interceptor program office is part of Space Systems Command and is based at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

A new way to brief Capitol Hill on space warfare

The Space Force has a communications problem, and industry is building a tool to help solve it.

Lawmakers can watch tanks maneuver, tour warships and see fighter aircraft fly. But they have no comparable way to understand how satellites operate in orbit — or how an adversary might approach, jam or disable the spacecraft that underpin U.S. military operations.

To bridge that gap, the Space Force Association has built what amounts to an unclassified visualization lab for space warfare.

The National Spacepower Center, unveiled in prototype form last month, combines commercial orbital tracking data, spacecraft engineering models, command-and-control software and immersive visualization to show policymakers how military operations in space unfold and why they matter for forces on Earth.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman and his expected successor, Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, viewed the first demonstration July 21 at Sedaro's Arlington offices.

At Saltzman's suggestion, the inaugural scenario focused on "space dogfighting" — not Hollywood-style satellites chasing one another, but the painstaking orbital maneuvers that determine whether one spacecraft can approach, observe or interfere with another.

The vignette showed a notional adversary spacecraft maneuvering in highly elliptical orbit toward a U.S. missile warning satellite supporting operations in the South China Sea. Once in close proximity, the adversary jammed the satellite, interrupting missile-warning support to forces below. A second U.S. spacecraft then maneuvered to counter the threat and restore the mission.

The point was less the specific scenario than the physics behind it. Spacecraft travel at thousands of miles per hour, but meaningful orbital maneuvers often unfold over hours or even days. Operators cannot simply point a satellite toward an opponent and accelerate. They must execute carefully timed engine burns, wait for orbital paths to converge and conserve limited fuel.

"It looks like this is happening really fast, but in reality, we are planning and going out and actually doing a ballet," said Dillon Cox, the Sedaro executive leading the project for the Space Force Association. "All of this has to be executed at the perfect time."

The idea grew out of conversations between Saltzman and Space Force Association over how difficult it is to explain military space operations to Congress. Members can tour satellite factories, but seeing hardware on a clean-room floor does little to explain how spacecraft interact in orbit or why losing one could affect military operations around the globe.

For now, the center remains an independent association effort rather than a Space Force program. The prototype was assembled in less than four months using internal research-and-development funding from Redwire, COMSPOC, Sedaro, OpenC3 and TigerVision, each contributing software or hardware to the simulation environment.

SFA's chief executive Damon Feltman insists the project is not intended to become an industry campaign for bigger defense budgets.

"It's not always about getting more money," he said. "It's about spending the money that's already out there in the best way possible."

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