Saltzman’s farewell warning: Prepare for war in space to preserve peace

WASHINGTON — Gen. Chance Saltzman in his final public address as chief of the U.S. Space Force warned that a conflict extending into orbit would expose the satellites of every nation, arguing that the best way to deter such a war is to build military forces capable of fighting and prevailing in space. “Whether we want to be in the combat zone or not, orbital mechanics will put all of our space capabilities in a space war zone,” Saltzman said July 15 at the Global Air & Space Chiefs’ Conference in London. “We will share the consequences. Therefore, we should share the responsibility for a safe, secure, and stable space domain.” The address amounted to a strategic summation of Saltzman’s nearly four years leading the military’s newest service. During his tenure, the Space Force moved beyond its early struggle to establish an identity separate from the Air Force and concentrated more explicitly on preparing for combat against China and Russia. Saltzman, who plans to retire next month after a 35-year military career, became the second chief of space operations in November 2022, when the Space Force was less than three years old. The service was still widely viewed as the organization responsible for providing communications, navigation, missile warning and other support to forces fighting on Earth. Those missions remain central to the Space Force. But Saltzman increasingly argued that they could no longer be assumed to operate without interference. China and Russia are developing systems capable of jamming, disabling or destroying satellites, while their own militaries become more dependent on spacecraft for targeting, communications and battlefield surveillance. The result has been a shift toward what the service calls space control: protecting U.S. and allied access to orbit while retaining the ability to deny an adversary the advantages provided by its own space systems. Saltzman’s “Competitive Endurance” strategy called on the service to avoid operational surprise, deny adversaries the benefit of striking first and develop counterspace capabilities that could disrupt enemy operations without creating dangerous orbital debris. The approach seeks to balance the need to achieve space superiority with the risk that widespread destruction of satellites could render parts of orbit unusable to militaries, companies and civilian agencies alike. Thoughts on deterrence In London, Saltzman said military commanders should spend less time trying to calculate what might dissuade an adversary and more time building forces capable of defeating an attack. Deterrence depends on an adversary’s perceptions, calculations and motivations, he said — factors that are difficult to measure. A military force preparing to defend against an attack can work from more concrete questions: how many weapons an adversary has, where they might be launched and what they are likely to target. Military leaders should therefore concentrate on being able to “defend, if necessary, even d…