USSF Orbital Warfare Delta Testing Maneuverable Satellite

AURORA, Colorado—The U.S. Space Force has launched a prototype maneuverable satellite to train for on-orbit offensive and defensive activities, a senior service official said Feb. 25.

The USSF-87 mission that launched Feb. 12 and carried two Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites into orbit contained an additional satellite that will be operated by the service’s Space Delta 9, Combat Forces Command Commander Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon told reporters at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air Warfare Symposium here. Space Delta 9 is the service’s sole unit focused on orbital warfare, and also operates the GSSAP satellites as well as the X-37B orbital test vehicle, Gagnon said.

Operators will “work on driving that spacecraft in a way that we couldn’t drive spacecraft in the past,” he said, comparing existing satellite operations to flying a Boeing 737 aircraft, while this satellite is more similar to a military-grade aircraft.

Gagnon declined to provide a name for the spacecraft’s mission or to share the satellite vendor, noting that the People’s Liberation Army of China is targeting the U.S. industrial base.

“They want to catch up to us on the racetrack. The fastest way to do that is to steal our designs,” he said.

He described it as a demonstration to test out “a number of competing vendors so that we can pick the one that we think works best.”

The Space Force is preparing for several separate tests this year of spacecraft to perform rendezvous and proximity operations and on-orbit refueling. Gagnon said the service is developing tactics, techniques and procedures that are organic to each spacecraft.

“So it’s very good that we get a different spacecraft, because they handle differently and they have different procedures,” he said. “This is helping us with our acumen in orbital warfare as we move forward.”