U.S. Space Command Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting at Space Symposium. Photo: Space Foundation

COLORADO SPRING, Colo.— The Golden Dome space defense concept put forward by President Trump has the full support of U.S. Space Command, Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting said Tuesday at Space Symposium in a speech about current threats and Space Command initiatives. 

“It is our opponents, most notably China, who have accelerated the terrestrial and on-orbit space weapons, and expanded their space-enabled kill chains,” Whiting said. “They are moving at jaw-dropping speed, and they’ve deployed vast armed arsenals of missiles, all deliberately fielded to threaten our homeland.” 

As our opponents have upped their game, he said, so has the Space Force. “There is no longer any debate that space is a warfighting domain. War in space is not inevitable, but we must apply our best thinking to be ready.”

To that end, the Space Command developed five elements of victory, informed by lessons learned in other domains from the best thinking across joint force exercises, modeling and simulation. “They tell us what we need for war-winning advantage and how we will win,” Whiting said. 

The first element is about reacting to a first strike from an adversary, using the Space Command’s first-ever campaign plan that integrates and synchronizes operations, activities and investments with key stakeholders in the joint force, “leaving no doubt to our opponents that we are stronger and more capable in space than they can possibly imagine now.”

Another element of victory includes the need for orbital interceptors. “What do we call these?” he said. “We call these weapons, and we need them to deter a space conflict and to be successful if we end up in such a fight.” 

Weapons in space used to be considered inconceivable, he said, but now space-based interceptors are a key component of strategy to win. “We are a combat command, and like all other combat commands, we must be dominant at war fighting and war winning.”

Whiting announced that the Space Command has achieved initial operational capability with seven member nations in an effort to increase space domain awareness. “Our partner nations and their data has been critical to tip and cue government systems when interesting and unexpected events and situations happen in space,” he said.

A Moon base, and even humans on Mars, is the future of space development, he said. “It’s one we must safeguard, shape and defend together to not only protect our interests in space, but also to protect that future which is coming.”