The Space Force must build the capability to put troops in orbital space in order to counter China’s space ambitions. This is reportedly the argument put forward in a paper published by the Air and Space Force Association’s internal think tank, the Mitchell Institute. The report, authored by retired Col. Kyle Pumroy, outlines the alleged threats that China’s manned spaceflight program poses and steps the Space Force, NASA, and industry can take to counter future space conflict scenarios, reported Air and Space Force magazine. Pumroy, a senior resident fellow at Mitchell, said in a May 21 press roundtable that without a serious commitment to at least starting the process of putting “Guardians” (as members of the Space Force are known) in space, the U.S. risks falling behind in what many are now calling the new space race.
Service leaders, Pumroy said, should start planting seeds with a handful of personnel that would grow into dozens and potentially a future force with 100 or more space-focused Guardians and Title 10 authorities for the USSF to operate with humans in space. “We’re not talking about building rovers with lasers to put on the moon in the next few years,” Pumroy said. “It’s to begin developing the skills, tools, and concepts necessary for future Title 10 missions now using low-Earth orbit as a proving ground for a small number of Guardians.”
Underlying that strategy is the geopolitics of making China the enemy of the U.S. in space. The new Mitchell report makes the alleged case that China’s combined military and civilian approach to space and its track record of violating territorial norms such as in the South China Sea and the Arctic serve as warnings for potential competition rather than cooperation with the United States in space.