Why a Department of the Space Force?

Bethesda, MD (SPX)
Feb 08, 2019

Over the last 20 years several issues regarding the National Security Space (NSS) organization and management have been reviewed and assessed. Both the Rumsfeld Commission in 2001 and the Allard Commission in 2009 noted that there are many pockets of excellence and positive trends within the NSS community.

However, the commissions also noted growing performance shortfalls, vulnerabilities and potential gaps in capabilities. Many of the capabilities are thin and fragile. Important space-based capabilities are currently provided by obsolete on-orbit assets, while new generation satellites have experienced unacceptable cost and schedule growth, technical performance problems and cancellations.

Many of the necessary actions to address these adverse trends, such as those identified by the 2001 Space Commission and the 2003 Defense Science Board Study on Space Acquisition, have been slow to change. There has been a lack of clear accountability and authority regarding strategies, budgets, requirements and acquisition processes across the NSS community. In other words, "no one's in charge."

To exacerbate the situation, career management practices have often been counterproductive and the technical talent pool has been insufficient. These commissions stressed the need for fundamental change in order to correct the problems. In particular, the Allard Commission recommended a top-to-bottom reform to create stronger leadership and improved management for National Security Space. In the absence of needed improvements and a lack of progress, it would appear that NSS operations should have its own organization and management structure, and that structure could become the Department of the Space Force.

This new NSS organization could do many things to reduce costs and increase operational effectiveness, while maintaining space superiority. For example, clarify lines of authority and eliminate "stovepiped" systems. A new vision is needed for NSS and that may be called "Vision 2030," a 21st Century architecture that uses an integrated approach to providing NSS services to the stakeholder community.

Such an architecture might use a single integrated and multifunctional space infrastructure that satisfies the objectives of both the warfighter and intelligence communities. Physically, this might be a multi-layered constellation of satellites that can collect ISR and other security-related information, fuse and process data, and send these data to end users on the ground.

The new Space Force might become the single source of all needed NSS information for a variety of ground and space operations. All defense and intelligence agencies could then share resources in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Why_a_Department_of_the_Space_Force_999.html.

Ex-Marine pilot dreams of ferrying folks into space

By Ivan Couronne
Washington (AFP) Feb 8, 2019

Mark Stucky fought in the Iraq war, once buzzed a Soviet warplane over the Sea of Japan and has flown all sorts of experimental aircraft.

Now, his dream is a taste of routine and repetition: to make the same trip as often as possible, in the same aircraft, ferrying six wealthy passengers into space.

"Forger", as he is nicknamed, is a test pilot for the space travel company Virgin Galactic, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson.

Flying an aircraft called SpaceShipTwo, for a few minutes on December 13, 2018 he flew across the boundary into space over the Mojave Desert in California.

It is this kind of flight that Virgin Galactic hopes to make available on a weekly basis to rich customers, some day.

"This is a test pilot's dream," said Stucky, a 60-year-old former Marine with short gray hair.

"I want to do every flight," he added, although he will have to share them with other Virgin test pilots until flights get going on a regular basis -- not before the end of the year, even if all goes well.

Reaching space remains a complex and dangerous feat. A friend of Stucky flying for Virgin died in 2014 after a wrong command in midair caused the aircraft to disintegrate.

Since then the program remains in the test phase. Branson said it will be far enough along in July for him to take a place on the spacecraft. But in this industry delays are common.

Stucky says he would love to take his family along on one of the flights.

"Oh, definitely," he said in an interview with AFP.

He was in Washington to receive "astronaut wings" from the government aviation agency FAA for private sector crew who have flown beyond 50 miles (80 km) above the surface of the earth. That is considered the edge of space for the United States, although the international norm is 100 km.

His co-pilot Frederick Sturckow also received the honor. Only two previous flyers of the predecessor to SpaceShipTwo, who went up in 2004, have garnered such wings.

"There will always be some level of risk because you're going to space. That should not be taken lightly," said Stucky, who has spent most of his working life flying planes for the army and NASA before joining Scaled Composites, a Virgin partner, in 2009.

"Only time will tell. There's always this one bad flight separating you from being a hero to a goat," he said.

Stucky added: "Humankind needs a percentage of people that do go out and explore and pave the way for the masses to follow, but I don't think everybody should do it."

- Floating in space -

SpaceShipTwo looks like a rocket fitted with wings. It is carried into the air by a large plane that drops it like a bomb, roughly at the altitude at which commercial aircraft travel.

A few seconds later, the pilot ignites the engine and the spaceplane becomes an actual rocket for a minute, blasting straight up -- so high that the view stretches from Baja California in Mexico to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Then, in absolute silence, the passengers experience weightlessness and float for a few minutes. Soon gravity kicks back in and SpaceShipTwo heads back down to earth, like a cannonball. Stucky and his co-pilot ease the gliding craft into the Mojave Air and Spaceport.

Some say such missions are no big deal -- just going way, way up, and less tricky than flying in orbit around the earth. But Stucky begs to differ.

"I don't think it's a dead end technology. I think it's a way to democratize space for many, many thousands of people. If you want to go orbital right now, you open up space for a handful of extremely wealthy billionaires," he said.

For the first 600 people who have signed up for such flights, the fare is a cool $250,000. Sales have stopped but Virgin Galactic has said the price will go up when reservations reopen.

Virgin Galactic has a rival in Blue Origin, owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who wants to send people higher, up to an altitude of 100 km.

But any idea of a space race is taboo.

"If they beat us, it doesn't matter to me too much, as long as they beat us not because we were lazy. I want us to do the best that we can, but be safe," he said.

He said there is one drawback in his new job: being stuck in the cockpit.

"I wish I could go in the back. I really want to unstrap and float around," he said.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ex-Marine_pilot_dreams_of_ferrying_folks_into_space_999.html.

NATO chief says allies keen to avoid arms race with Russia

February 13, 2019

BRUSSELS (AP) — Taking aim at Russia, NATO's civilian chief said Wednesday the alliance is studying a range of options to counter Moscow's alleged missile treaty violations, and America's top diplomat accused the Russians of having "grand designs" to dominate Europe.

In remarks at the outset of a NATO defense ministers meeting, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance is considering ways to counter Russian missiles without sparking an arms race. He called the missiles "a significant risk" to Europe.

In Poland, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Moscow's efforts to divide the European Union and NATO and disrupt western democracies must be countered through boosting NATO's presence. "Russia has grand designs of dominating Europe and reasserting its influence on the world stage. Vladimir Putin seeks to splinter the NATO alliance, weaken the United States and disrupt Western democracies," he said.

"Russia's invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, its unprovoked attack on Ukrainian naval vessels this past November and its ongoing hybrid warfare against us and our allies are direct challenges to our security and to our way of life," he added.

Pompeo made the comments while visiting a NATO forward position in northeast Poland about 70 kilometers from the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Because of Russia's ongoing involvement in Ukraine, the U.S. and others take seriously the possibility that Moscow may try to open a new front along Europe's eastern flank, Pompeo said. He said that threat underscores the indispensable nature of NATO — a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for the past 70 years but the target of harsh criticism by President Donald Trump, who has cast the allies as freeloaders unwilling to foot the bill for their own defense.

Also throwing U.S. support behind NATO, Vice President Mike Pence told hundreds of Polish and U.S. troops in Warsaw, Poland on Wednesday, "We must stand together in defense of our alliance and all that we hold dear."

Against the backdrop of rising Western tensions with Russia, the NATO meeting in Brussels focused initially on the expected demise of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, known as the INF treaty. The U.S. signed the pact with the Soviet Union in 1987. The allies are considering how to respond collectively to what they say are Russian violations of the treaty.

The United States on Feb. 2 launched the six-month process of leaving the INF treaty, insisting that a new Russian missile system violates the pact. Russia denies it is in contravention and has announced that it will pull out, too.

The INF bans production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). European NATO allies insist that the pact is a cornerstone of continental security, although after Pompeo announced earlier this month that Washington was beginning the formal process of withdrawal, NATO publicly endorsed the move.

Speaking at NATO headquarters, where defense ministers are discussing what to do if the imperiled treaty is abandoned, Stoltenberg said: "This is very serious. We will take our time." "Our response will be united," he said. "It will be measured, and it will be defensive because we don't want a new arms race. And we don't have any intention to deploy new nuclear land-based weapon systems in Europe."

Later, in remarks made alongside Pat Shanahan, the acting U.S. secretary of defense, Stoltenberg said, "We need to plan for a world without the treaty and with more Russian missiles." Shanahan said he planned to brief his fellow ministers on his talks earlier this week in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he met with U.S. commanders and government leaders. NATO has roles in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Shanahan, attending his first NATO meeting, said he also looked forward to talking to his colleagues about the future of the NATO alliance. "We need to talk more about our vision and what we can accomplish in a world that has so many changing threats," he said.

NATO allies have little insight into Shanahan's views, whereas they felt confident that Jim Mattis, who resigned as defense secretary in December, was an unwavering supporter of the alliance. Mattis implied in his resignation letter that President Donald Trump's disrespect for traditional allies was among policy differences that compelled him to quit after two years in the job.

With regard to the expected termination of the INF treaty in August, Stoltenberg said that NATO has "a wide range of options, conventional and other options," but he declined to list them, warning that any speculation "would just add to the uncertainty."

U.S. officials have said there is no plan to deploy in Europe a nuclear-armed INF-class missile. They have said only non-nuclear options are under consideration and that decisions are not imminent. The Pentagon believes that Russia's ground-fired Novator 9M729 cruise missile — known in NATO parlance as the SSC-8 — could give Moscow the ability to launch a nuclear strike in Europe with little or no notice. Russia insists it has a range of less than 500 kilometers. It claims that U.S. target-practice missiles and drones also break the treaty.

European NATO members are especially keen to avoid any nuclear build-up and a repeat of the missile crisis in the 1980s. NATO allies decided to deploy U.S. cruise and Pershing 2 ballistic missiles in Europe in 1983 as negotiations with Moscow faltered over its stationing of SS-20 missiles in Eastern Europe.

-- AP Diplomatic writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Poland.

Report: At least 20 Guard personnel killed in Iran bombing

February 13, 2019

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A suicide bombing targeting a bus carrying personnel of Iran's elite paramilitary Revolutionary Guard force killed at least 20 people and wounded 20 in the country's southeast, state media reported. An al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremist group operating across the border in Pakistan reportedly claimed the assault.

The bombing came on the same day a U.S.-led conference in Warsaw was to include discussions on what America describes as Iran's malign influence across the wider Mideast. It also comes two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution and four decades of tense relations with the West.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif directly linked the meeting to the attack. "Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that (hashtag)WarsawCircus begins?" Zarif wrote on Twitter. "Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with (Twitter) bots?"

The state-run IRNA news agency, citing what it described as an "informed source," reported the attack on the Guard in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan province. The province, which lies on a major opium trafficking route, has seen occasional clashes between Iranian forces and Baluch separatists, as well as drug traffickers.

The Guard is a major economic and military power in Iran, answerable only to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It later issued a statement saying a vehicle loaded with explosives targeted a bus carrying border guards affiliated with its force.

While Iran has been enmeshed in the wars engulfing Syria and neighboring Iraq, it largely has avoided the bloodshed plaguing the region. In 2009, more than 40 people, including six Guard commanders, were killed in a suicide attack by Sunni extremists in Sistan and Baluchistan province. Jundallah, a Sunni extremist group still active in the region on Iran's border with Pakistan, claimed responsibility for that attack.

More recently, another Sunni extremist group known as Jaish al-Adl linked to al-Qaida, kidnapped 11 Iranian border guards in October. Five later were returned to Iran and six remained held. Both official and semi-official Iranian media outlets blamed Wednesday's bombing on Jaish al-Adl, or "Army of Justice," saying the group had claimed the attack.

That group formed in 2012 and drew some militants from Jundallah, experts believe. Iran long has suspected Saudi Arabia of supporting the militants, something Riyadh denies. It's also unclear how the militants have been able to operate freely from Pakistan for years.

A coordinated June 7, 2017 Islamic State group assault on Parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution. At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded.

And most recently in September, militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on a military parade in Iran's oil-rich southwestern city of Ahvaz, killing 24 people and wounding over 60. Khamenei blamed Riyadh and Abu Dhabi for the attack, allegations denied by both countries.

Arab separatists in the region claimed responsibility, as did the Islamic State group. The attacks come as Iranian officials have said they blame Saudi Arabia and the United States for stirring up dissent in the country. President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise of tearing up Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, withdrew the U.S. from the accord last May. Since then, the United Nations says Iran has kept up its side of the bargain, though Iranian officials have increasingly threatened to resume higher enrichment.

Amid the new tensions, Iran's already-weakened economy has been further challenged. There have been sporadic protests in the country as well, incidents applauded by Trump amid Washington's maximalist approach to Tehran.

Khamenei, who earlier approved President Hassan Rouhani's outreach to the West during the nuclear deal negotiations, dismissed any future dealings with the U.S. "About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm," Khamenei said in a statement.

The Warsaw summit, which started Wednesday, was initially pegged to focus entirely on Iran. However, the U.S. subsequently made it about the broader Middle East, to boost participation. Zarif earlier predicted the Warsaw summit would not be productive for the U.S.

"I believe it's dead on arrival or dead before arrival," he said at a news conference before the bombing.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Iranians mark anniversary of victory day in 1979 revolution

February 11, 2019

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Waving Iranian flags, chanting "Death to America" and burning U.S. and Israeli flags, hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets across Iran on Monday, marking the date that's considered victory day in the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On Feb. 11 that year, Iran's military stood down after days of street battles, allowing the revolutionaries to sweep across the country while the government of U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi resigned and the Islamic Republic was born.

In Tehran, despite the rain, crowds streamed in from the capital's far-flung neighborhoods to mass in the central Azadi, or Freedom, Square, waving Iranian flags and chanting "Death to America" — standard fare at rallies across Iran.

Chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to Britain" followed, and demonstrators burned U.S. and Israeli flags. Iranian state TV, which said millions participated in the celebrations, ran archive footage of the days of the uprising and played revolutionary songs. It later broadcast footage showing crowds across the country of 80 million.

The 6-mile-long downtown Enghelab, or Revolution, Street was decorated with huge balloons as loudspeakers blared out revolutionary and nationalist songs. Every year, the anniversary festivities start on Feb. 1 — the day Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from France after 14 years in exile to become the supreme leader as Shiite clerics took power. The celebrations continue for 10 days, climaxing on Feb. 11.

This year's anniversary comes as Iran grapples with the aftermath of President Donald Trump's decision last May to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and restore tough U.S. sanctions. Speaking from a podium in central Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani addressed the crowds for nearly 45 minutes, lashing out at Iran's enemies — America and Israel — and claiming their efforts to "bring down" the country through sanctions will not succeed.

"The presence of people in this celebration means that plots by the enemies ... have been defused," Rouhani said. "They will not achieve their ill-omened aims." In the backdrop to Monday's marches, the military displayed Iranian-made missiles, which authorities showcase every year during anniversary celebrations. The missiles have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), placing Israel and U.S. military bases within range.

Over the past decade, Iran has frequently test-fired and displayed missiles, sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. The ballistic missile tests have angered the United States, which fears they are part of an effort to develop a nuclear weapons capability, something Iran insists it has never sought. The 2015 nuclear agreement urged Iran to cease such missile tests, but did not forbid them outright.

"We do not and we will not ask permission for producing any type of missiles from anybody," Rouhani said in his speech Monday, though he stressed that Iran would "continue constructive engagement" with the international community.

Rouhani also promised that Iran would overcome its economic hardships, worsened by the restored U.S. sanctions. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, attended a rally in the southern city of Kerman. He is widely seen as the mastermind of Iran's extensive military activities across the region, which have also angered Washington. Iran supports the Lebanese Hezbollah and other militias in the region, and is closely allied with Syria's government.

In Tehran, 27-year-old medical student Hossein Hosseinpour walked with his wife and their 18-month-old son. He said he wanted to teach his son to support the revolution. "I see a bright future for him and our nation," Hosseinpour said.

Mahmoud Hemmati, 35, was pushing his 68-year-old mother, Parivash Fakheri, in a wheelchair. "My mother, despite her illness, asked me to bring her out," he said. Fakheri, who was one of the revolutionaries on the streets of Tehran in 1979, said she would defend the revolution all over again.

"I know there are many economic problems today, but that is something different from our revolution," she said. "It has been moving forward over the past 40 years and making Iran stronger." Last week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defended the "Death to America" chants, saying they are aimed at America's leaders, such as Trump, and not its people.

The Iranian people "will not stop saying 'Death to America' as long as the U.S. acts maliciously" toward Iran, Khamenei said. Iranian state TV anchor Mehdi Khosravi said he expects John Bolton, the U.S. national security adviser, to be very angry on Monday since he had once predicted that Iranians will not see the 40th anniversary of their revolution.

Last year, Bolton told a meeting of Iranian exiles that "before 2019, we here ... will celebrate in Iran."

Police: 17 killed in fire at New Delhi hotel, 4 others hurt

February 12, 2019

NEW DELHI (AP) — Seventeen people died in a fire early Tuesday at a hotel in western New Delhi that left at least four others injured, police said. The fire at the Arpit Palace Hotel has been extinguished, but authorities are still investigating what sparked it, Deputy Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Randhawa said.

"We have to check the stability of the structure, check every room," Randhawa said. The hotel is located in Karol Bagh, an area in India's capital city full of shops and budget hotels that is popular with tourists.

Twenty-five fire engines responded to the blaze, which had engulfed all but the ground floor of the five-story hotel, fire officer Vijay Paul said. About three dozen people were rescued from the hotel, Paul said.

Among those rescued was Sivanand Chand, 43, a hotel guest who was jolted awake around 4 a.m., struggling to breathe. "When I got out of my room, I could hear 'help, help!' from adjoining rooms," Chand told The Associated Press, adding that he opened the window and saw flames rising very fast.

"In 15 minutes, the whole room was black," he said. The rescue took about 30 minutes because fire engine ladders could not initially reach Chand's floor, he said. The injured were taken to hospitals, but their medical conditions were not immediately known.

Australian prime minister boasts security credentials

February 11, 2019

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister on Monday described his government as stronger on national security than the opposition after signing an agreement with the French government to deliver a fleet of submarines and ahead of federal elections expected to be held in May.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison used a speech to Australia's National Press Club on the eve of Parliament's first sitting day of the year to detail his conservative coalition's record on a diverse range of security issues including military spending, stripping extremists of Australian citizenship, asylum seekers, contentious laws to prevent criminals from using encrypted communications, and domestic violence.

Earlier, Morrison and French Defense Minister Florence Parly signed a new agreement to deliver the first of a fleet of 12 submarines to Australia in the early 2030s. French state majority-owned shipbuilder DCNS won the 56 billion Australian dollar ($40 billion) contract in 2016 to build the world's largest diesel-electric submarines.

The partnering agreement was reached after months of heated negotiation. The agreement spells out details such as warranties for defects and how much Australia must pay if it cancels the contract. U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin Corp. has been contracted to design and fit the submarines' weapon systems.

Parly hit out at critics of how long the negotiations had taken. "When I heard at some point ... whining about the length of negotiations, I thought: 'open your eyes. This is the deal of the century. This is a partnership for the century,'" Parly said.

Morrison said his government was on track to boost defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product — a level demanded by President Donald Trump of U.S. allies — by 2020-21. When the center-left opposition Labor Party was last in office from 2007 to 2013, defense spending fell to 1.56 percent of GDP — Australia's lowest level since 1938.

"Our government has demonstrated that we have the mettle to make the right calls on our nation's security," Morrison said. He said Labor's strength on border security could be tested this week when the opposition considers changing laws to allow doctors rather than bureaucrats to decide which asylum seekers held in Pacific island camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea can fly to Australia for medical treatment.

The conservative government has all but stopped asylum seekers from Asia, Africa and the Middle East coming by boat from Southeast Asian ports by insisting that no boat arrivals will ever be allowed to settle in Australia. The asylum seekers are banished to island camps where they face uncertain futures.

But those allowed into Australia for hospital treatment typically get court injunctions that prevent their return to the islands. The government argues that if the law were changed, more than 1,000 asylum seekers, mostly males, would come to Australia from the islands within weeks, which would encourage thousands of new asylum seekers to head to Australia by boat from Indonesia.

The change to legislation on medical evacuations was passed by the Senate with Labor's support in December. Morrison's government has lost its majority in the House of Representatives, where the change could become law as early as Tuesday.

Morrison ruled out reaching any compromise with Labor on the change. "I know what compromise and poorly thought through changes can do to the borders," Morrison said. Eli Shakiba, an Iranian refugee on Nauru who will soon start a new life in the United States, urged lawmakers to change the system in which medical evacuation decisions are often argued in court. Shakiba is relocating after five years on Nauru under a 2016 bilateral deal for the United States to resettle up to 1,250 refugees rejected by Australia.

"Please, I would like to ask you: Will you vote for this bill tomorrow in Parliament to bring sick people to Australia for treatment, or more of us will die here because of the Australian government ignoring doctors?" she told Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an appeal to lawmakers. Twelve asylum seekers have died on Nauru in the past five years.

Senior opposition lawmaker Mark Dreyfus said Labor had decided late Monday to negotiate with independent lawmakers to amend the bill it had passed in the Senate to ensure the government has discretion to refuse medical transfers on security grounds.

If the independents accept Labor's amendments, the government would become the first in 90 years to have a law passed against its wishes. Some in Labor fear the change would be perceived as a weakening of border security and result in a repeat of the 2001 election, in which a tough policy against asylum seekers helped the conservatives retain power.

The conservatives were behind Labor in opinion polls in 2001 before Norwegian freighter MV Tampa rescued 433 Afghan asylum seekers from a sinking Indonesian fishing boat and attempted to deliver them to the nearest port, Australia's Christmas Island. Australia sent soldiers to stop the ship, which was diverted with its human cargo to Nauru under a new refugee policy. The conservative government was re-elected weeks later after a campaign that focused on a tough stance on asylum seekers.