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What’s New: Space Force announced a new standing targeting (offensive) unit.
Why It’s Important: The DOD has long considered space a warfighting domain. The head of Space Force declared it publicly in 2020.
- Establishing this unit and announcing it publicly sends a message, especially to China and Russia, that the U.S. is ready to respond in space.
- It may indicate a sense in DOD that things are about to heat up in space. This could be an effort to deter aggression.
- It could also escalate tensions and provoke actions that the U.S. might see as aggressive.
What Else to Know: If you have essential assets in a potential war zone, it might be a good idea to have complementary, alternative, and backup capabilities, OUTSIDE the war zone. Like a terrestrial capability for PNT, for example.
US Space Force creates 1st unit dedicated to targeting adversary satellites
“We are changing the way targeting is done across the joint community when it comes to space and electromagnetic warfare.”
The United States Space Force has activated its first and only unit dedicated to targeting other nations’ satellites and the ground stations that support them.
The 75th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron (ISRS) was activated on Aug. 11 at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado. This unit is part of Space Delta 7, an element of the U.S. Space Force tasked with providing intelligence on adversary space capabilities. It’ll do things like analyze the capabilities of potential targets, locate and track these targets as well as participate in “target engagement,” which presumably refers to destroying or disrupting adversary satellites, the ground stations that support them and transmissions sent between the two.
