It is no secret that US military forces have become more and more dependent on space, leading to an absolute need for space superiority, Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel told defense reporters in Washington Tuesday morning. The Air Force’s program executive officer for space believes that the need for “complete situational awareness,” including whether spacecraft could potentially interfere with or launch attacks “against our space capabilities,” will translate into more dollars for missile defense, Hamel said. “I think we’re going to see more money going into the whole space situational awareness and defensive capabilities across the [Defense] Department,” he concluded.
The White House announced its United States Space Priorities Framework in a document released concurrently with Vice President Kamala Harris' first National Space Council meeting. Listed among five U.S. priorities is to “defend its national security interests from the growing scope and scale of space and counterspace threats.”