Chinese, Russian space capabilities ‘scare’ new Australian space commander

The nation’s first space commander warns Australia needs to rapidly develop its satellite defences.

‘Our lack of capability is concerning’ … Defence Space Command chief Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts.

Australia’s first space commander has warned the nation is “far behind” in military space capabilities and needs to rapidly develop the ability to “jam”, “fry” or “blind” adversaries’ satellites.

Defence Space Command head Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts said Australia had no way to counter potential Chinese or Russian attacks on vital satellites without US help, leaving the ­nation exposed to devastating ­attacks on civilian systems.

“We need to be able to protect our assets in space otherwise it will change Australians’ way of life,” she said at the air force’s Air and Space Power Conference in Canberra. “What scares me the most? I think the activities of China and Russia – which have been fairly well documented in the public domain – scare me.

“Our lack of capability at the moment against those threats, that is concerning. We have a great ally (in the US) but we need to accelerate the capability so we can deal with the threats.”

Air Vice-Marshal Roberts said Defence was currently working on both “kinetic and non-kinetic” capabilities to take out adversaries’ satellites without creating risky debris fields, as Russia did last year when it destroyed one of its own redundant satellites.

She said a satellite could be jammed, dazzled with lasers “to blind it”, or hit with electronic ­attacks to disable it.

“You could also do it so strongly that you fry the workings of the satellite, essentially, and then it just sits there dormant,” she said.

Air Vice-Marshal Roberts said Australia also didn’t have, as China recently demonstrated, “a satellite with arms on it that can tow something out of orbit”.

She said Australia was keeping a close eye on a Chinese satellite, SJ21, which removed another of the country’s satellites from orbit in January in an alarming demonstration of the country’s dual use space capabilities.

She warned China “could actually just decide to take out the NBN for Australia” if it wanted to, using SJ21 or a similar capability.

Air Vice-Marshal Roberts said Defence was already working on electronic warfare capabilities in space, and was planning to launch a 100kg satellite next year to demonstrate new military capabilities.

She said tracking space debris and monitoring other nations’ satellites in orbit was also a key early priority.

“Space domain awareness is where it starts and we need to operationalise it because we are so far behind,” she said.

The head of US Space Command General James Dickinson, who is responsible for delivering America’s “space combat power”, declined to comment specifically on the extent of the United States’ offensive space capabilities.

Amid claims Russia and China have surpassed the US in hypersonic missile developments, including the alleged use of a Russian Kinzhal missile in Ukraine, General Dickinson maintained the US “portfolio of capabilities” gave it the ability to counter enemy threats in space.

He said Australia’s southern hemisphere location and vast land area made it a perfect partner for ground “space domain awareness” facilities.

General Dickinson warned China was also determined to secure ground locations to monitor space assets, and was eyeing off sites in the South Pacific for its own facilities.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton announced the official “standing up” of Defence Space Command on Tuesday, revealing it was the first step towards a US-style “Space Force”.

Mr Dutton said the growing militarisation of space would require Australia to take a more proactive role to deter attacks on the ­nation’s satellite assets.