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https://spacenews.com/gop-platform-lays-out-aggressive-space-agenda-to-counter-china/
GOP platform lays out aggressive space agenda to counter China
July 17, 2024
The 2024 Republican National platform is poised to be adopted at the ongoing 2024 GOP convention in Milwaukee.
One plank, as powerful as it is concise, calls for America to reaffirm and extend its leadership in a crucial area of geopolitical competition: the exploration and development of space.
Space rarely garners attention in party platforms, but it is an increasingly important arena of international competition, and potentially conflict.
Once safely protected by two seas and secure boarders, America is increasingly vulnerable to threats from abroad, many of them celestial in nature.
Oceans and border defenses are irrelevant to these new weapons. China and Russia have significant space capabilities and unsavory schemes for dominance.
Russia is developing and perhaps deploying orbital space weapons. China is working hard to beat America back to the moon. We are once again in a Cold War with an accompanying Space Race.
To win, we must counter the space ambitions of aggressor states, while leading the free world forward to prosperity on the final frontier.
The Trump administration was aware of these issues and established the United States Space Force. Trump’s presidency also saw major advancements in space commerce.
These were steps in the right direction. But the work is not done. History shows that in the long run victory goes to the nation that develops economic dominance in a new territory.
Holding a region you do not settle and develop has proven expensive and futile.
The GOP space plank, at just 50 words long, reveals a determination to win Space Race 2.0 through economic competition, not military conflict.
It calls for “a robust manufacturing industry in near Earth orbit,” sending “American astronauts back to the moon, and onward to Mars,” and partnering with “the rapidly expanding commercial space sector to revolutionize our ability to access, live in, and develop assets in space.”
Again, the Trump White House understood the economic imperative and laid out the most comprehensive space civil and commercial agenda since the Kennedy years.
Trump refocused NASA on returning to the moon with commercial partners and aligned the international community with that goal under the Artemis Accords.
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America possesses one unbeatable advantage over her authoritarian rivals: our dynamic commercial space firms.
Renowned companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrup Grumman have always provided our nation with unrivaled capabilities and they support an unrivaled industrial supply chain.
Disruptive new startups like SpaceX, Rocket Lab and Blue Origin are making these incumbents work harder while bringing astounding new capabilities to market.
Elon Musk’s rockets have precipitated a revolution in orbital access, driving down costs and speeding access for satellites that deliver communications and geospatial intelligence.
As recently as the early 2000s, it cost nearly $10,000 to put one kilogram into low-Earth orbit. By 2015, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket could do it for $2,720.
Today, launching the same payload costs as low as $1,500. With intense market competition and SpaceX’s huge new Starship rocket, we foresee pricing below $1,000 by the end of the decade.
The last time we saw such a combination of falling prices and improved performance, it was in the integrated circuits that drove the personal computing and internet revolutions.
Moore’s Law sustained global U.S. technological and economic dominance for decades. The Republican platform embraces the possibility of a similar boom in space.
China has a robust national space program with an operating space station and has recently delivered on a series of impressive robotic lunar landings and sample return missions.
While their success cannot be ignored, much of their technology has been acquired from Russia and copied (or even stolen) from the America.
China has publicly embraced commercial space, but their firms are years behind.
China’s nominally commercial space firms have been spun out of the military and civil space agencies and are very closely tied to the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese Communist Party apparatus.
In fact, the Chinese commercial rockets that have been launching payloads below market price are really just repurposed ICBMs.
Future rocket designs presented by Chinese firms are nearly always blatant copies of SpaceX hardware.
One of these, a knockoff of the Falcon 9, was recently destroyed in a failed test firing so catastrophic it presented a serious threat to the public safety.
We firmly believe that the ingenuity and determination of free Americans will best China’s authoritarian space program and deliver an era of even greater prosperity and safety to people and our planet.
The GOP platform lays the groundwork for a second Trump administration to lead us into that future.
https://spacenews.com/gop-platform-lays-out-aggressive-space-agenda-to-counter-china/
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DAF, RAF leaders sign Shared Vision Statement on 21st century cooperation
July 17, 2024
Leaders of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force and the Royal Air Force have renewed their Services’ commitment to bolstering air and space integration at the operational and tactical levels.
U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, and Royal Air Force Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton signed a Shared Vision Statement on Combined Air and Space Power in the 21st century at the RAF’s Global Air & Space Chiefs’ Conference in London, United Kingdom, July 17.
The endeavor is a successive step in a long history of security cooperation and collaboration between the two nations and recognizes the need to rapidly adapt to a changing operational environment.
Three critical lines of effort were included to drive continued partnership and support responses to global defense challenges and threats — Operational Harmonization, Capability Integration, and System Resilience.
“Among great powers, space is the linchpin,” Saltzman said.
“We’re part of a growing group of allies and partners that enhance our collective security through resiliency, redundancy and interoperability.
Collaboration between the U.S. and the U.K. is essential to maintaining our combined force’s competitive advantage across all domains.”
As the NATO alliance celebrates its 75th anniversary, this shared vision exemplifies U.S. efforts to work with NATO allies and European partners to adapt and modernize its approach to challenges in an era of Great Power Competition.
It also emphasizes that building upon existing common ground and shared perspective is a key component of shared success and serves as a foundation for closer cooperation.
“No nation can successfully confront today’s dynamic security environment alone,” Allvin said.
“By increasing our integration with the Royal Air Force, we are enhancing our collective ability to address the threats we face.
We will continue to invest in partnerships like this to build enduring advantages while simultaneously strengthening deterrence.”
The statement also reaffirms the long and historic partnership between the U.S. and one of its closest and most capable partners and strengthens the allied strategic advantage across all domains.
“Through working together, we continue to build our long history of close military security co-operation as two NATO partners,” Knighton said.
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3842213/daf-raf-leaders-sign-shared-vision-statement-on-21st-century-cooperation/
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3842329/civilian-guardians-participate-in-azimuth-aerospace-missions-training/
Civilian Guardians participate in ‘Azimuth’ aerospace missions training
July 18, 2024
Two procurement experts from the Space Force are the first Guardian civilians to graduate from the demanding “Azimuth” aerospace missions training program for early career personnel.
Mallory Avila and Aman Zemoy, both acquisition logistics management specialists with the Space Force’s Space Systems Command, graduated in June from the three-week training program held at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Azimuth is designed to immerse top performers in the board range of aerospace missions conducted across military services. Curriculum includes a wide range of aerospace training, including – for those whose careers may one day include supporting human spaceflight – conducting experiments in micro- and zero gravity, by way of a parabolic flight in a converted Boeing 727 airliner.
“That was the most fun I’ve ever had in my lifetime,” said Zemoy, who grew up in Carson, California and graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona before joining SSC in 2021.
“We didn't realize you're going to have zero control over your body; you're just going to be tossing and tumbling … like a baby trying to walk, trying to figure out how to get it all together.
And then eventually some of us were able to conduct the experiment; some people were just completely discombobulated.”
Avila, a Rialto, California native, had a similarly rewarding experience, including a four-day-long electronic warfare exercise – the Special Warfare Orientation Course, or SWOC – that included setting up satellite communications ground stations in the field.
“We had helicopters, fighter jets – it was like the real thing,” said Avila, who has also been with the command for three years.
“By the fourth and final day after each team rotated into each segment of the mission – we had an electromagnetic support team, an attack team, command team, and then communications.
At the end of the fourth the day of the operation, it ran the smoothest. Our response times were quicker than Day One, so you could tell everybody learned from Day One to Day Four, how to identify jamming in the satellites. That was my favorite part.”
Azimuth is a term borrowed from celestial navigation; it refers to one of the coordinates used to find and fix a point in space.
The similarly named training effort, begun by USSF’s Space Training and Readiness Command in 2022, is a unique summer program for U.S. Air Force Academy cadets as well as Navy midshipmen, Army cadets, ROTC students considering a commission in the Space Force.
Now, thanks to Avila’s and Zemoy’s successes as “test subjects,” Space Force personnel, aka Guardians, both military and civilian, are also eligible to participate.
“Azimuth is a Space Training and Readiness Command joint nationwide space education program, focused on helping prepare the next Guardian generation,” said Lt. Col. Adam Wasinger, serving at the Air Force Academy.
“The U.S. Space Force plays a crucial role in educating the next generation of leaders, preparing them to excel in the demanding landscape of Great Power Competition.
By fostering a deep understanding of space exploration, technology and defense strategies, the USSF instills the knowledge necessary for future leaders to navigate complex geopolitical challenges with confidence and innovation.”
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Avila and Zemoy are both part of the USSF Logistics Palace Acquire Program and were nominated for Azimuth by their supervisors based on their abilities and early career status.
SSC, led by Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, has an organizational focus on training and education for the workforce, both military and reserve, as well as government civilians.
“Azimuth participants are selected from a large applicant pool, and are really some of our best and brightest, both military and civilian,” Garrant said.
“We were honored and pleased to be able to send two of our own from SSC.”
“We’re passionate about developing our workforce,” said Brad Leonard, who leads SSC’s Logistics team.
“Azimuth provides an avenue to connect our junior civilian acquisition professionals to the space warfighter.
Spending a few weeks in the warfighters’ shoes will pay huge dividends for our Guardians throughout their careers.”
Along with special warfare and microgravity trainings, Azimuth curricula include scuba/neutral buoyancy training, rocket engine design and launch, classroom and lab work, and briefings by Space Force industry partners, as well as tours of Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, Schriever Space Force Base, and Buckley SFB, all in Colorado.
Graduates agreed that exposure to the civilian, military, industry and academic elements of the aerospace discipline was key to the training program’s success.
“Azimuth highlighted for us that no matter what role we play in the mission - everybody's role is important, from civilian to the military side,” Avila said.
“We have our careers in acquisitions, but we were able to see and participate in the operations side of space.”
Zemoy – who like Avila, does not have military experience – said working side by side with the instructors and cadets was an eye-opener.
“The work we do actually does impact the warfighter, and our systems must actually work when they get out there,” he said. “At the end of the day, lives are at stake.”
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https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3842669/chief-of-space-operations-advocates-refocus-on-integrated-defense-at-global-air/
Chief of Space Operations advocates refocus on integrated defense at Global Air, Space Chiefs’ Conference
July 18, 2024
During a trip to the United Kingdom, U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman appeared at the Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference, delivering a keynote address to a crowd of global leaders, industry partners and academics in the air and space defense industry, July 17.
Titled “Toward Integrated Defense in Space,” Saltzman’s address began with a discussion on the current model of nuclear strategic deterrence using a historical anecdote referencing an early military use of the concept in western civilization: Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War.
“In the ‘History of the Peloponnesian War,’ Thucydides describes no less than 10 uses of what he calls a deterrence strategy, and that was in the conflict between Athens and Sparta,” Saltzman said.
“Aside from one partial exception, they all fail spectacularly. In fact, in most cases, they primarily serve to provoke the exact behavior they were meant to prevent.”
Saltzman stated that although these early military deterrence strategies were largely unsuccessful, the concept has evolved greatly over time, culminating in a fundamental change with the development of nuclear strategic deterrence.
He emphasized that nuclear deterrence has demonstrated robust effectiveness and is an important component of the U.S. National Defense Strategy, preventing Great Power Competitors from escalating conflicts to unrestricted warfare.
However, he continued, by its nature, nuclear deterrence as a military strategy has limited utility in application against other real and potentially damaging threats.
Now, aggressors are developing new methods, employing limited, asymmetric and hybrid warfare in efforts to erode the established international order, including in the space domain, Salzman described.
He urged air and space military service chiefs to focus on developing the specific military capabilities needed, in support of their national security apparatuses, that ‘protect and defend’ against these aggressions.
“Over the course of my career, I have come to the conclusion that deterrence is really a term of policy best used to capture an ideal outcome of grand strategy; this is why I believe Integrated Deterrence is a valuable and worthy approach in the U.S.’s National Defense Strategy,” Saltzman said.
“Our NDS describes it as a weaving together of capabilities and concepts with those of our international and interagency partners to dissuade aggression.”
He went on to describe high-level capabilities the U.S Space Force is currently providing in this effort and how the service is integrating with others around the world.
“The United States is proud to be part of an ever-growing group of allies and partners—many of them in the room today—a group of partners that are all working together to increase resiliency, redundancy and interoperability of all space-based capabilities to enhance our collective security,” Saltzman said. “If we do this right, the net result is a condition of deterrence that maintains a safe, secure, and stable international environment, which is the ultimate goal of our national security policy.”
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Concluding his keynote, Saltzman advocated for a shift in perspective related to the current model of military deterrence.
“In the end, what I’m advocating for here is a change in focus and a clarification of thought,” Saltzman said. “Deterrence is the rightful and worthy province of our civil and political leaders, and we must stand ready to support it.
To do that effectively, I propose we design our forces and orchestrate our activities around military functions like ‘protect’ and ‘defend,’ which we can more tangibly pursue, rather than ‘deterrence,’ which is a more nebulous and complex concept.”
Following his keynote, Saltzman was joined by Australian Army Maj. Gen. Gregory Novak, Australian Space Command commander, and British Army Maj. Gen. Paul Tedman, U.K. Space Command commander, for a panel discussion with the audience, diving deeper into deterrence and integrated defense concepts.
“Recognizing that the Space Force is going to be wholly reliant on powerful partnerships, whether it's commercial industry, whether it's academia, the science and technology community, whether it's our allies and international partners, being integrated by design is fundamental to how I see success,” Saltzman said.
On the periphery of the conference, Saltzman also engaged directly with defense officials from allied and partner nations, including a meeting with U.K. Royal Air Force Air and Space Commander Air Marshall Allan Marshall and Novak to discuss the ongoing AUKUS security partnership.
Additionally, Saltzman met with Tedman, discussing U.K. space power priorities and U.S. Space Force efforts to reoptimize for Great Power Competition.
Later the same day, Saltzman joined U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin in signing a shared vision statement with RAF Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton with an intent to further strengthen, integrate and accelerate the existing bilateral partnership in air and space between the U.S. and U.K. The statement is an update to an original version signed in 2021, which focused on collaboration over three lines of effort: operational harmonization, capabilities integration and systems resilience.
Throughout the trip, Saltman was aided by Air Marshal Paul Godfrey, an RAF officer recently assigned to the senior U.S. Space Force staff as the Assistant Chief of Space Operations for Future Concepts and Partnerships.
In this role, Godfrey is responsible for integrating allies and partners within the U.S. Space Force’s capability development strategy.
Saltzman’s trip to the UK yielded multiple opportunities for partnership development and collaboration with some of the U.S.’s closest allies.
It also provided a platform in front of international military and industry leaders to convey a shared vision of defense in the interest of freedom and security in, from and to space.
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MUFON Says It Has Alien Metal Sample
Jul 18, 2024
UFO investigation group MUFON, which stands for the Mutual UFO Network, showed off a sample of what they say is alien metal this week. The scraps of metal, lighter than a flower petal and gold-tinged, were brought out for the first time at the MUFON International Symposium in Irving, Texas, and the group says that tests with NASA-grade tech showed that it was 90% unidentifiable.
Where did they get it? The samples were found by a Russian researcher named Arkady, who said the samples “appeared” in his house after he was contacted by a non-human entity who told him it came from a crashed UFO. The organization says there was more than what they displayed, but claim that the additional samples were stolen from a US Post Office Box after the finder tried to mail them from Russia to the US. According to MUFON’s Media Relations Director Ron James, “This is typical with evidence of this nature.”
https://real1061cleveland.iheart.com/content/2024-07-18-mufon-says-it-has-alien-metal-sample/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgKr6VcrvLM
The annual Kecksburg UFO Festival returns this weekend. The three-day event celebrates all things alien at the location of Pennsylvania’s own “Roswell incident.”
July 18, 2024
Did you know more than 5,000 unidentified flying objects have been reported by Pennsylvanians to the National UFO Reporting Center since 1947?
This coming weekend, all things UFO will be celebrated — not in the sky, but on the ground at the annual Kecksburg Volunteer Fire Department UFO Festival.
The festival will take place Friday from 6 to 11 p.m., Saturday from noon to 11 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. in Kecksburg.
Why Kecksburg?
One of the most famous UFO sightings in Pennsylvania is our very own version of the 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico, where the crash and recovery of a US Army high-altitude balloon became the center of a conspiracy theory involving UFOs and extraterrestrials, and it happened in Kecksburg.
In 1965, a fireball flying across the sky was witnessed by thousands of onlookers across six states.
The object caused sonic booms near Pittsburgh and ended up crashing in Kecksburg.
Some locals claimed to have seen the large, acorn-like object fall into the forest.
The forest area was quickly sealed to the public and the incident resulted in a search by the U.S. military, scientific studies, numerous conflicting accounts, and even a lawsuit against NASA.
Since then, the small town of Kecksburg has become a hub for all things alien, including the annual UFO festival.
The three-day festival features UFO investigators and experts, exhibits, live music, an alien-themed parade, fireworks, and much more.
https://keystonenewsroom.com/2024/07/18/mysteries-in-the-sky-kecksburgs-ufo-festival-draws-enthusiasts-to-pennsylvanias-roswell/
https://kecksburgvfd.com/ufo-festival-latest-news/
New Paradigm Institute Coordinating Enhanced UAP Whistleblower Protections, Asks Public To Support Coming Legislation
July 16, 2024, 12:44 GMT
The New Paradigm Institute (NPI) today launched a nationwide call-to-action campaign asking all American citizens to support future legislation from US Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN), which would provide enhanced protections for unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) whistleblowers.
Congressman Burchett intends to introduce legislation to enhance protections afforded to UAP whistleblowers after his office met with members of NPI’s UAP Whistleblower Protection Legal Team, comprised of ten federal attorneys headed by noted civil rights attorney Daniel Sheehan.
“Without enhanced protections, the forty-plus whistleblowers waiting to come forward with first-hand knowledge of non-human intelligence and technologies of unknown origin, including crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs, will remain in the shadows,” said Sheehan, NPI’s President and Chief Counsel.
“Protecting UAP whistleblowers against threats, intimidation, and reprisals is crucial to UAP disclosure and government transparency.”
In support of the imminent release of Congressman Burchett’s whistleblower protection legislation, NPI is undertaking an unprecedented paid media campaign, calling on the public to support the legislation by contacting their federal Representatives.
“The people have a right to know the full truth about UAP – and the non-human intelligence that our government understands to be responsible for this phenomenon.
So now is the time to support this specific UAP whistleblower legislation to provide the enhanced protection that UAP whistleblowers especially need as patriotic whistleblowers.
The public agrees with us and with Congressman Burchett,” Sheehan concluded.
To take action, go to https://action.newparadigminstitute.org/actions/protect-uap-whistleblowers-now/
To learn more, go to https://newparadigminstitute.org.
https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/728000257/new-paradigm-institute-coordinating-enhanced-uap-whistleblower-protections-asks-public-to-support-coming-legislation