Space Challenges Prompt DoD Response, Space Superiority

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Photo by Airman 1st Class Zoe Thacker (Source: https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4948537/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-crs-16-launches-iss)
Photo by Airman 1st Class Zoe Thacker (Source: https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4948537/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-crs-16-launches-iss)

September 1, 2020 | Originally published by U.S. Department of Defense on August 21, 2020

U.S. Space Command operations in space deter conflict; deliver space combat power for the joint force, allies, and partners; and defeat aggression if necessary, a leader of that command said. These are just some of the challenges being met and overcome to maintain space superiority.

Army National Guard Maj. Gen. Tim Lawson, Mobilization Assistant to the Commander, U.S. Space Command, spoke via video remote from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to the National Defense Industrial Association in Washington, D.C.

“For decades, the U.S. has been the most dominant space power,” he said. “But that dominance has been challenged, most notably in 2007, when a Chinese anti-satellite missile struck a weather satellite, sending 3,400 pieces of debris into orbit, most of which are still in orbit creating a hazard,” he said.