Space has already been weaponized, and Washington needs to work diligently with its partners to ensure U.S. superiority in the final frontier, according to Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force John F. Bentivegna.
In a wide-ranging interview for the Threat Status weekly podcast, Mr. Bentivegna outlined that the Space Force has correctly identified space as a key war-fighting domain that America’s rivals are already looking to exploit.
“Space has absolutely been identified, and we consider it a war-fighting domain. The foundational purpose of the Space Force is to provide space superiority for the nation,” he told Threat Status. “When you think about what’s on the ground, whether it be lasers or electronic warfare, trying to jam GPS, trying to jam satellite communications… our competitors and adversaries have been investing in how to negate this advantage that we have as a nation.”
Mr. Bentivegna, who joined the Space Force in late 2020, advises Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman on the employment, training, education and development of the Space Force.
Since Mr. Bentivegna began his tenure at the Space Force, the race for dominance in Space has only heated up. China has launched hundreds of successful missions since 2020, and has launched at least 90 of its G60 communications satellites to low-Earth orbit that will become part of Beijing’s Qianfan mega-constellation project, according to the Space Force.
The U.S. has so far outpaced China in total launches and satellites, with private companies like SpaceX leading the way with 140 successful missions as of November.
Mr. Bentivegna said the U.S. commercial sector is key to Western space dominance.
“One of our primary advantages are our people, our ability to think outside the box, our ability to kind of take risk, our openness to leverage with commercial industry, to take advantage of how fast they’re moving, our ability to have reusable launch, which is a capability that a lot of nations are trying to get after. China specifically, doesn’t have that capability yet,” he said.
Additionally, the U.S.’s partnerships with its allies give Washington “global access” to data and technology that is crucial to ensuring Western dominance in space. Mr. Bentivegna said with the help of allies, the U.S. will be able to maintain a robust awareness of the threats posed by rivals in space.
“General Saltzman refers to space as the ultimate team sport… our ability to share responsibility and leverage what our partner nations are bringing to the table has been a definite advantage to us from the superiority perspective,” he told Threat Status. “With our allies and partners, [we] ‘chase the sun’—no matter where we are on the globe, we have partners and allies helping keep awareness of what’s happening in the domain for attribution and warning.”
Mr. Bentivegna’s comments come as the Space Force, the youngest branch of the U.S. military, begins to cement its purpose and solidfy its importance to U.S. security. He said he envisions a Space Force that will assist in the “free and unfettered” access to that domain, acting as the U.S. Navy does to secure transit lines in the world’s oceans.
“I think we will follow where we go from an economic exploratory perspective, and eventually that will probably lead to actual guardians in the domain. But I think that will absolutely be a relationship and a kind of following, because that’s what history has kind of shown us,” he said.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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