VIA SATELLITE: How do the space aspirations of countries like India and China affect the United States?
HELMS: Space is a domain that every nation has the right to operate in responsibly. There are now 61 countries operating in space and approximately 10 countries and consortia that are able to launch payloads into orbit and over 40 countries that own assets on orbit, so it is a busy place that will continue to get busier. It is in everyone’s best interest to maintain good space situational awareness.
VIA SATELLITE: What impact will Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) will have on U.S. operations?
HYTEN: Although it is too early to tell, I am inclined to believe that ORS can be a game changer. We see ORS as a national strategic capability that can provide us with a real game-changing response to any kind of event. If for example we lost a satellite in a collision and it happened to be a communications satellite, it would be ideal to have developed a national strategic capability that would allow us to quickly replace the lost system with another system. While the replacement system may not be as robust as the system that was lost, it would be good enough to handle any crisis that we might face in the world and do it quickly.
VIA SATELLITE: What are the major issues facing the United States in terms of taking its military space capabilities to the next level?
HYTEN: We are recapitalizing our entire fleet of satellites from precision navigation and timing to military satellite communications and missile warning. The biggest challenge we have is recapitalizing our entire fleet at the same time while operating our on orbit fleet. We have to continue to do our operations today and then deliver the new capabilities without missing a beat. Throughout this recapitalization it is imperative that we maintain our course and deliver the capabilities that we have promised. We need to make sure we deliver on the commitments we have made, not only to the warfighters around the world but to the American people.
VIA SATELLITE: Do you expect enemies to start using more space-based capabilities?
HELMS: We would suspect that any organization with the funds would try to purchase or procure whatever space capability they can from whomever they can for products such as commercially available satellite imagery. The protection of spaced-based assets and freedom of movement in space is the right of all nations. There is a threat for nations that operate in the space domain and it will take cooperation and a defense in depth to protect all aspects of space operations.
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