Space Force Has A Unit Dedicated To Orbital Warfare That Now Operates The X-37B Spaceplane
Space Delta 9 is charged with not only keeping watch for potential threats in space, but being ready to defeat them, if necessary.
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The fledgling U.S. Space Force's Space Delta 9 is tasked with performing a mission set that the service describes as orbital warfare. This includes keeping an eye out for potentially hostile activity in space, as well as deterring those threats and even potentially defeating them, according to the unit's official website. Publicly, it provides this support primarily through various space-based surveillance and communications systems, but, interestingly, it is also responsible for overseeing the operations of the experimental X-37B mini space shuttle, the exact mission and capabilities of which remain obscure.
Space Delta 9 "conducts protect and defend operations from space and provides response options to deter and defeat adversary threats in space," according to an infographic that accompanied the Space Force Tweet on Oct. 24. "The mission of Delta 9 is to prepare, present, and project assigned and attached forces for the purpose of conducting protect and defend operations and providing national decision authorities with response options to deter and, when necessary, defeat orbital threats," is how the unit's official website describes it. It also shows the unit's insignia, which is distinct from those of the other deltas, and simply features the roman numeral "IX" for nine in silver along with a single red star at the top, all on a black background.
... certainly most interestingly, is Space Delta 9's Detachment 1. While the exact ownership of the X-37B has been at the center of some jockeying between the Air Force and Space Force, this is the unit that oversees its operations once it gets into orbit. This secretive spaceplane has been the topic of much discussion and speculation as to its role since it first began making trips into space in 2010. This has including talk of whether it might carry, or at least be used to test, space-based weapons, including directed energy systems, such as laser or high-power microwaves.
Small satellites that can rendezvous with and maneuver very close to other satellites could be used to perform on-orbit inspections and potentially repairs, among other innocuous tasks. However, they have inherent intelligence-gathering and anti-satellite capabilities, as a result, as well. A small satellite that could get in close proximity to another one could be able to collect imagery or gather electronic signals data on that target, as well as potentially blind, jam, disable or destroy it using non-kinetic or kinetic attacks, including just smashing into it. This concept is sometimes referred to as a "killer satellite" and is a capability the U.S. government has said that Russia, as well as China, are actively developing.
Other countries have also demonstrated anti-satellite or other counterspace capabilities or say they are in the process of developing them for both offensive and defensive purposes. In addition, where the thresholds might be for a war in space, or fight in space as part of a primarily tertiary conflict, to erupt, and how to prosecute such a conflict, remain largely undefined, but Space Force is actively trying to figure out those concepts of operation now.
No matter what, Space Delta 9, and the X-37B, look set to be central components for this rapidly evolving notion of orbital warfare.
