21 May 2024
Australia has a vital role in helping maintain global stability through the growing work and influence of its Space Command, according to one of the United States’ most senior military leaders.
Delivering a keynote speech at the Air and Space Power Conference, Chief of Space Operations for the US Space Force General B. Chance Saltzman said Australia’s emerging strength and capability in the space sector will act as a major deterrence to forces wishing to disrupt and control an area of the globe that has become integral to all our daily lives.
General Saltzman called it ‘deterrence down under’ and believes it will play an increasingly important role as Australia further develops this vital defence capability.
“Australia and the United States share a strong interest in maintaining freedom, peaceful commerce in the Pacific and around the world, freedom of navigation, lawful use of sea and now space. All contribute to successful deterrence in the region and across the globe,” General Saltzman said.
“Today the space domain is radically different to when I started flying satellites decades ago and even radically different to four years ago when the US Space Force was established.
“This rise in congestion and competition in the domain has led to a growing risk to our continued access to, and operations within, space.
“To address this, the US Space Force has been charged with the, at times, daunting task of securing the space domain. Australia will have an important role in this.”
General Saltzman said that more than ever, joint and coalition forces depend on space capabilities, meaning the space forces are an integral part of the joint coalition team.
“Each service must be able to control its domain – air superiority, sea control, land dominance, now space superiority,” General Saltzman said.
“Only the US Space Force can provide the truly worldwide capabilities our forces absolutely require as they defend US and allied interests around the world. Without satellite communication, without precision navigation and timing provided by the US Space Force, our joint force is unable to project power effectively.”
He added that while the destruction of an asset does not have a lasting effect on land, or by sea or air, it does in space, so we must take care.
“Collectively, our strategy should focus on confronting China and Russian maligned activity in the space domain through protracted day-to-day competition, which is a preferable state compared to crisis or conflict,” General Saltzman said.
“Ultimately, there is no victory in space because if you do it right, you never fight.”
General Saltzman said AUKUS accelerated capabilities that contribute to protecting the space domain in the form of deterrence, and that it represented a huge leap in the partner nations’ collective capabilities.
“However, deterrence down under is so much more though than just AUKUS,” General Saltzman said.
“Today in an era of uncertainty and dynamic geopolitical shifts, we stand at a pivotal moment in history where the winds of change are reshaping the global landscape – a landscape that stretches further and further into the space domain.
“The alliance between the US and Australia emerges not just as a bulwark against threats, but as a beacon of stability, progress and shared values.”
