Chains of Command
Posted on 10/31/2020 3:55:31 AM PDT by Candor7
The fledgling U.S. Space Force's Space Delta 9 is tasked with performing a mission set that the service describes as orbital warfare. This includes keeping an eye out for potentially hostile activity in space, as well as deterring those threats and even potentially defeating them, according to the unit's official website. Publicly, it provides this support primarily through various space-based surveillance and communications systems, but, interestingly, it is also responsible for overseeing the operations of the experimental X-37B mini space shuttle, the exact mission and capabilities of which remain obscure.
Space Force highlighted the intriguing orbital warfare mission of Space Delta 9, as part of the larger array of capabilities within its new Space Operations Command (SpOC), in a Tweet earlier this week. The unit had first come into existence in July and had previously been known as the Air Force's 750th Operations Group, which had only been activated and assigned to that service's 50th Space Wing the month before. 50th Space Wing, headquartered at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, was also transferred to the newest branch of America's armed forces that month, at which time it was rebranded as the Peterson-Schriever Garrison.
Space Delta 9 "conducts protect and defend operations from space and provides response options to deter and defeat adversary threats in space," according to an infographic that accompanied the Space Force Tweet on Oct. 24. "The mission of Delta 9 is to prepare, present, and project assigned and attached forces for the purpose of conducting protect and defend operations and providing national decision authorities with response options to deter and, when necessary, defeat orbital threats," is how the unit's official website describes it. It also shows the unit's insignia, which is distinct from those of the other deltas, and simply features the roman numeral "IX" for nine in silver along with a single red star at the top, all on a black background.
USSF
At present, there are four subordinate units assigned to Space Delta 9: the 1st and 3rd Space Operations Squadrons, the 750th Operations Support Squadron, and Space Delta 9, Detachment 1.
Publicly, the 1st Special Operations Squadron operates a constellation of space-based surveillance satellites, including the Space Based Space Surveillance System (SBSS), Advanced Technology Risk Reduction (ATRR) system, Operationally Responsive Space-5 (ORS-5), and the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP). SBSS, launched in 2010, was the U.S. military's first space-based sensor specifically designed for "Space Domain Awareness," or SDA, and is capable of "metric observations and Space Object Identification data on satellites operating in low-earth, semi-synchronous and geosynchronous orbits," according to the squadron's official website. The year before, the Air Force had worked with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to launch the ATRR satellite, which is also now used for SDA, but originally "served as a pathfinder for next-generation sensor technology for future MDA space missions."
The GSSAP satellites, the first two of which reached orbit in 2014, "provide a space-based capability operating in the near-geosynchronous orbit regime supporting U.S. Space Command space surveillance operations as a dedicated SSN [Space Surveillance Network] sensor." The SSN includes space and ground-based systems to monitor activity in the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere and beyond.
Chains of Command
Our enemies must be shaking in their boots.
Why in the fk would these dumbasses publish this information. These moon bats need a class on OpSec TODAY.
Total idiots. Fail
Ping
Space Delta 9, Detachment 1 is the one to watch - just a hunch
“Why in the fk would these dumbasses publish this information”
The US regularly publishes information on its weapons. As does every other world power. The intent is to prevent potential opponents from thinking they have such an advantage in a particular area of warfare that they decide to go to war. It is for deterrence. China has published data and demonstrated several times that it can shoot down intel satellites. China has also launched geostationary satellites, which are much higher up and harder to shoot at. These reportedly have much of the capability of their more vulnerable low-orbit analogs. The US is putting the world on notice that it can shoot down pretty much anything by taking a missile into orbit and launching it from there. (That’s just one of the implications of the article. But it surely won’t be missed by the Chinese.)
The idea of weapons is that they are not secret. If they were secret they would not have any deterrent effect.
Due to the disparity in local navies between the US (which has something like 239 major ships worldwide) and China, which has over 400 smaller ships indicates that the US has lost local deterrence regarding preventing China from taking Taiwan. The US is telling China that its satellites, which give it a decided advantage in using its impressive long range anti-ship capability, is not the advantage China thinks it is.
The object is to avoid a major power war by reestablishing a deterrent to that war. If the US can stave off a Chinese initiated major power war long enough, it is likely that the CCP will collapse and China will fractionate into many smaller powers that will be fighting amongst each other.
Why in the fk would these dumbasses publish this information.
—
because it tells you absolutely nothing of importance?
Our enemies must be shaking in their boots. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Apparently its not how you jack but how you hack that matters?
And the smaller you are, the less payload cost and the less oxygen you use?
Tatooine can’t be far away.
Space D&D.
The X37 in the photo looks like space shuttle debris.
Just sayin’.
Reminds me of the line out of the movie "Dr. Strangelove". "Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you *keep* it a *secret*! Why didn't you tell the world, eh?"
Like it has been on an extended deployment in space. Look closely at a US Navy surface warship that has been on an extended patrol and you will see plenty of rust stains and discoloration.
Which unit flies the reverse-engineered flying saucers out of the secret moon base?
The WSS (Weltraum Schutzstaffel)
I was on one of those forward deployed (the Med, homeport Naples) U.S. warships (a DE, looking for Russian subs) for two years. Toward the end of that time, the ship had collected more than its share of rust stains, but we could literally run circles around the freshly painted Russian cruisers that attempted to shoulder us out of the way.
The badges seem vaguely...familiar.
Well stated, sir,
Well stated, sir.I see you’ve given this briefing before.
...seeing as the United States Marine Corps is part of the Department of the Navy, but they have their own distinctive uniforms, will the folks in the United States Space Force eventually get their own distinct uniforms or will they continue to wear Air Force Blue.....?? jus’ askin’ ...
Just noting that the Space Operations Command logo is shaped like the Aurora while the others aren’t.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.