APOGEE STAFF When the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) destroyed a ballistic missile headed for Israel’s southernmost town of Eilat on October 31, 2023, it triggered worldwide media chatter about a new era of space warfare. That’s because the intercept — according to multiple media outlets but never confirmed by the IDF — potentially occurred above the Kármán line, an invisible boundary 100 kilometers above sea level considered to be the beginning of space. Another point of interest was that the aggressor was not some great power with arsenals of space weapons but rather an Iran-funded military and political organization in…
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Lt. Stephen C. Schroeder/U.S. Navy, U.S. Space Command Joint Integrated Space Team Pacific The United States and its allies and partners are at the forefront of an emerging era of opportunity. Space’s critical role in the global commons has gained considerable attention in recent years, and the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) guidance has never been clearer: “Space is now a distinct warfighting domain, demanding enterprise-wide changes to policies, strategies, operations, investments, capabilities, and expertise for a new strategic environment,” according to its Defense Space Strategy Summary of June 2020. Allies also identify the role space will have in potential…
APOGEE STAFF | Photos by The Associated Press Russia’s space program experienced rapid deterioration and uncertainty after the 2022 Ukraine invasion. The seeds of that decline, however, were sown years earlier when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. The nation that launched Sputnik, ushering in the Space Age, had suddenly been thrust into an environment that made its space program unsustainable: sanctions, an embargo on advanced industrial equipment, workforce shortages, limited financial resources, protracted economic inefficiencies in Russia’s space industry and the cancellation of space cooperation with Western partners, except for operations on the International Space Station (ISS). As told through…
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) promotes a growing strategic relationship with neighbor and fellow authoritarian nation Russia. As recently as February 24, after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping declared, “The development strategies and foreign policies of China and Russia are long-term,” calling the two countries “good neighbors that cannot be moved apart.” The statement builds upon a declaration by Xi and Putin two years earlier, on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that the partnership knows “no limits.” The nations showcase their cooperation in energy production, financial exchanges, coast guard patrols, military…
APOGEE STAFF With their growing reliance on outer space to ensure national security, the U.S. and its allies are turning to the commercial space sector for its speed, innovation and flexibility. One result: Adversaries are viewing the space-based systems that enable communications, observation and other facets of civilian life as military targets, making the protection of these “dual-use” assets a top defense priority. The war on Ukraine has added urgency to the effort. The day that Russian tanks first rolled in, a cyberattack targeted satellite internet provided by U.S.-based Viasat, blocking service for up to two weeks for tens of…
APOGEE STAFF Japan has added to its space surveillance network with the launch of a satellite that monitors North Korean missile sites and natural disasters. The satellite was lifted into low Earth orbit in January 2024 on a Japanese H-2A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center, according to a news release from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which co-developed the rocket with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Japan operates six surveillance satellites and is in the process of replacing the H-2A, its workhorse of two decades, with the more cost-efficient H3. The H3 was successfully test-launched in February 2024 after a failed inaugural…
APOGEE STAFF Poland said it will orbit its first military observation satellites in 2025, one in a number of moves to strengthen the NATO nation’s Army in response to the invasion of neighboring Ukraine by Russia. The series of new satellites will feature radar and optical technology from both foreign and domestic sources, Cezary Tomczyk, Poland’s deputy defense minister, said during a February 2024 news briefing reported by Reuters. Other plans include establishing a Polish space force. The news came 14 months after Poland announced it would obtain from France two high-resolution Earth observation satellites to help its armed forces…
APOGEE STAFF Spain aims to declare its new space command operational by February 2025, streamlining its space defense collaboration and training with allies France, Germany and the United States, as well as with NATO and European Union space agencies. A news release on the timeline from the Ministry of Defence said, “collaboration is essential, both now and in the future.” The new agency, Mando del Espacio or MEPSA, was activated in January 2024 as part of the Spanish Air and Space Force during a visit to its new headquarters by Spain’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles. MEPSA is based at Torrejón…
APOGEE STAFF The United Kingdom Space Command is expanding its space training and education with the opening of a new U.K. Space Academy for defense personnel as well as students from industry, academia and international partners. The Space Academy, declared operational in September 2023, will now be housed in a building to be redeveloped at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, near the village of Shrivenham southwest of Oxford. The building is adjacent to the Defence Cyber Academy, enabling both academies to share facilities and training expertise. The Defence Academy, part of Strategic Command within the Ministry of Defence,…
APOGEE STAFF The United States military and its allies are counting on dynamic space operations to fill a critical role as they keep tabs on strategic competitors, including the People’s Republic of China (PRC), but getting there will mean changes in how satellites are made and operated. Working with aerospace industry partners, U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) and the Space Force are determined to see the transformation through, possibly by 2030. A number of companies have already stepped up with potential solutions. USSPACECOM hosted 40 companies at an industry day on the issue in February 2023. Likewise, the concept of space…