US Space Command Will Use Offensive Cyber If Necessary

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“Future wars will be waged not just in the air, on the land or at sea, but also in space and cyberspace; dramatically increasing the complexity of warfare,” claims US Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist.

The risks from adversaries operating in space are real and are a threat to US. The Space Command established last August will be conducting defensive, and when necessary, offensive cyber capabilities to protect key space-based assets and guard its part of the military’s network, called the DODIN [Department of Defense Information Network].

Brig. Gen. Joseph Matos, from the US Space Command stated: “We see them gathering intelligence on us and, in some cases, infiltrating our networks in order to exfiltrate that to use against us. The threat goes beyond our systems, but also to our critical infrastructure, such as electricity and water and other areas in which we rely upon to conduct defense operations in space. We need to be prepared to actively operate and defend and, in some cases, use offensive cyber to conduct our space operations.”

The new combatant command with geographical area of designation of 100 kilometers above the Earth is responsible for delivering space-related combat capabilities to the Joint forces, including: satellite communications; position, navigation and timing; Global Positioning System (GPS); and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the general stated, according to afcea.org.

As the warfighting arm of the military in the space domain, the command’s means to address adversarial risks and protect U.S. capabilities are essentially digitally-based. “Space and cyber ops are uniquely intertwined,” he said. “I think it is clear that DODIN operations, defensive and offensive, will all be required as part of a large multidomain fight in space.”

The 2021 DoD budget request is the first since the creation of the Space Force. Space Force is allocated $15.4 billion for 2021, that’s compared to just $40 million in 2020. Outside of the $10.3 billion for R&D, the new service will get $2.6 billion for operations and maintenance and $2.4 billion for procurement. All of that money comes from the Air Force budget, according to federalnews.network.com.