According to Defense News Weekly**, the commander of the U.S. Space Command, James Dickinson, recently issued a statement declaring that the command has reached full operational capability after years of construction.
This statement confirms that U.S. Space Command has now met the criteria for mission execution and can provide a range of space combat capabilities to military users and combat commanders.
Full combat capability"This means that Space Command and the Space Force now have the standards to perform a variety of missions, to be able to execute a unified command plan in the context of global campaigns, exercises, and crisis responses, to have the right number and level of personnel, to have a command and control infrastructure to support a variety of missions and operational functions, and to have the necessary command processes and functions to set the necessary conditions and requirements for future combat.
Established in August 2019, the U.S. Space Command is the first new branch of the U.S. since 1947 and the sixth service after the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard. In August 2021, the U.S. Space Command announced that it had reached initial operational capability, and after two years of development, it has now declared that it has full operational capability.
Military observer Shao Yongling pointed out that this shows that the US Space Force has developed from a stage that only has practical deployment significance to a stage that can carry out high-intensity deployment.
The initial operational capability of the U.S. Space Command means that it has the ability to have a strategic impact on the joint forces and to be able to provide them with lasting and effective support. The now announced full operational capability means that the command and the Space Force already have the standards to perform a wide range of missions, providing a range of space combat capabilities to military users and combat commanders.
Shao Yongling pointed out in an in-depth analysis that the US Space Command claims to have comprehensive combat capability, but this claim is not reliable enough without a comprehensive operational assessment.
He stressed that it is necessary to conduct an all-round assessment of whether a country's space forces have comprehensive combat capability before a conclusion can be drawn. Space operations are an emerging field, and many countries are actively developing their own space undertakings. At such a moment, the unilateral declaration of full combat capability by the US Space Command seems a bit hasty. To add insult to injury, the location of the U.S. Space Command has not yet been determined, so the announcement of a full-fledged operational capability at this time may be hasty and lacks a practical basis.
He warned that the United States is investing heavily in building up its space combat forces mainly to compete for superiority in the "fifth space" and to ensure that it will occupy a leading position in the arms race with other military powers. However, these moves are bound to seriously threaten the space development plans of countries around the world and drag them into the vortex of the space arms race.
Shao Yongling further pointed out that with the rapid development of the US Space Force, many countries have followed suit, including Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and even Spain, all of which have begun to increase their space forces and set up corresponding space commands. If this development continues, the possibility of space becoming the next battlefield cannot be ruled out. The fact that the United States has transformed what should have been calm space into the commanding heights of the arms race and extended the arena of human warfare from the ground to the space domain is a deeply alarming reality.