US Ramping Up for ‘Space Warfighting’ and ‘Orbital Warfare’

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Space Force is readying new “Space Warfighting” framework to explain its concepts and terms — such as “space superiority” and “orbital warfare” — to its own planners and externally to Joint Force planners. 

Space Force’s top general worries about keeping pace with China amid cuts even as DOD acknowledges the growing importance of space in modern military operations.

Space Force has certified United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket to fly military launch missions, positioning the company to compete with SpaceX for future contracts. 

DOD is preparing to award several high-stakes contracts for commercial satellite communications services, signaling a growing reliance on private-sector capabilities for battlefield connectivity and global coverage. 

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

Signal leak sparks new calls for modernized messaging options from defense officials. Officials are calling for clearer policies, and more access to modern platforms that military and government insiders can trust for real-time communications about classified activities.

The Atlantic released the entire Signal chat among senior national security officials, showing that SECDEF Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before those attacks against Yemen’s Houthis were airborne. 

Intelligence officials remain defensive about Yemen-bombing group chat as members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence grilled them about their discussion of battle plans using an encrypted commercial app. 

Heads must roll for Signal-chat ‘war plans’ leak debacle. This is not a “learn and move on” situation; people need to get fired.

HOMELAND SECURITY

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the high-security El Salvador prison where alleged Venezuelan gang members have been held since their removal from the US. 

SECDEF has authorized troops deployed to the southern border to use Strykers and other tactical vehicles for patrols. 

POLITICS

Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine, Trump’s nominee to be America’s top military officer, is about to go before the Senate Armed Services Committee in the next step toward confirmation.

The Supreme Court has upheld a Biden regulation on nearly impossible-to-trace weapons called ghost guns, clearing the way for continued serial numbers, background checks and age verification requirements for buying the kits online.

PENTAGON WOKE WATCH

Only a handful of courses at the military’s service academies have been eliminated to comply with Trump’s directive to scrub DEI from their campuses.

US POWER OVERSEAS

4 US soldiers missing in Lithuania have died, NATO leader says, but did not yet know the details. 

USS Nimitz the Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier departed San Diego Bay for what is expected to be its last deployment.

Navy moves 2 carriers to cover Indo-Pacific and Middle East missions. The USS Carl Vinson and its strike group arrived on Guam this week for a scheduled port call as its sister ship, as the Nimitz departed for the Indo-Pacific. 

CHINA THREAT

The South Pacific is the new frontline in the rivalry with China. A few weeks ago, commercial flights over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand were forced to divert after Chinese warships warned they were about to conduct live-fire exercises. 

A Taiwan court has sentenced four soldiers, including three who worked in the president’s security team, to jail for up to seven years on charges of spying for China. 

Six Chinese nationals have been charged with espionage by Philippine authorities for intelligence-gathering activities on US naval vessels and critical infrastructure at Subic Bay.

China swoops in to replace Asian USAID projects axed by Trump, including in Cambodia.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Russian strikes show Moscow does not want ‘real peace’, says Zelenskyy, after an attack by 117 drones, before he headed to Paris for a discussion with EU and NATO leaders about creating a post-conflict security force. 

Russia convicted 23 captured Ukrainian troops on terrorism charges in a military court trial that Kyiv denounced as a sham and a violation of international law. 

IRAN THREAT/ISRAEL WARS

As Trump offers new nuclear talks, Iran weighs the cost of losing its final leverage. 

NORTH KOREA THREAT

North Korea’s shadowy airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, based on a Russian Il-76 Candid cargo aircraft, has flown. We now have official inside views of the aircraft.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Britain to fit laser weapons on four warships by 2027 as part of plan to increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by that same year.

Airbus unveiled a European-made missile-slinging, partially autonomous, drone for air defense.

The US approved a potential $1.96 billion sale to Qatar of eight MQ-9B unmanned aerial vehicles, which would mark the first sale of the General Atomics-produced drones to the Middle East.

The first of 28 new F-35 stealth fighters that were previously canceled by the incumbent government in Canberra could be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force as soon as 2029, if it goes ahead with the order. 

Denmark plans to join a European pool of air-to-air refueling tankers, including the potential purchase of two Airbus A330 MRTT refueling aircraft. 

Sweden targets $30B increase in defense spending, to hit 3.5% of GDP by 2030, in line with what is expected to be the next NATO-wide spending target. 

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro will stand trial for allegedly orchestrating a violent plot to seize power through a military coup, after the country’s supreme court decided he must be prosecuted. 

Last week, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Trump to re-admit Turkey to the stealth F-35 fighter program, from which it was booted in 2019 after acquiring a Russian air defense system that poses a significant threat to NATO. Its readmission to the program must come with a cost.

Six feared dead after tourist submarine sinks in Egypt as embassy says all passengers Russian.

US MILITARY

The Navy must throw out its worn shipbuilding playbook if it wants to grow its fleet enough to meet critical national security needs, a congressional watchdog said. 

SM-6 missile closer to proving hypersonic weapon intercept capability after Aegis destroyer test simulated a successful intercept of a mock advanced hypersonic missile.

The head of the Transportation Command wants to start planning now on a new airlifter to replace both the C-5 and C-17 fleets, which serve as the command’s “workhorses.”

Air Force picked Boeing for the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter was based on ‘best overall value.’ Here’s what it means.

The Army is looking for inexpensive but high-tech solutions, including AI, to help protect the massive acreage at sites where munitions are made and stockpiled.

While the Army has exquisite firepower with its expensive long-range precision fire systems, it also wants to aggressively amass cheap rockets to target drones or overwhelm an enemy. 

The Marine Corps’ answer to mobile, long-range fires now features a multi-rocket launch system and autonomous tech. 

END of PDB