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Space Force opens up a new frontier, says Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton will flag the creation of an Australian ‘Space Force’ in a speech on Tuesday to mark the standing-up of a new Space Command within the RAAF.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton in Brisbane on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled
Defence Minister Peter Dutton in Brisbane on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Defence Minister Peter Dutton will flag the creation of an Australian “Space Force” in a speech on Tuesday to mark the standing-up of a new Space Command division within the Royal Australian Air Force.

Mr Dutton will tell the air force’s Air and Space Power Conference that the growing militarisation of space will require Australia to take a more proactive role to deter attacks on the ­nation’s satellite assets.

“Australia’s Defence Space Command will initially be modest compared to those similar, well established functions which already exist among some of our ­allies,” he will say.

“But make no mistake, we are forward looking. It’s a necessary endeavour with a view to protecting our national interests and our need for a Space Force in the ­future.”

The reference to an Australian Space Force suggests a fully fledged branch of the armed forces that would stand alongside the army, navy and air force.

The US Space Force, created by Donald Trump, has grown into an organisation of more than 6400 personnel, who oversee all aspects of America’s military posture in space, including intelligence, electronic warfare, missile warning and “orbital warfare”.

Mr Dutton will highlight Russia’s destruction of one of its own satellites last year creating a massive debris cloud, and Russia and China’s efforts to develop hypersonic weapons, as evidence of escalating space domain threats.

“We know some countries are developing capabilities to threaten or degrade space networks, to target satellites and to destroy space systems,” he will say, according to an advance copy of his speech. “Countries that see space as a territory for their taking, rather than one to be shared.

“For any nation, losing access to space would have significant civil and military consequences. Thus all nations have an interest in assuring their access to space.

“It is a domain which must be used to deter aggression rather than become a new realm for ­conflict.”

Defence’s Space Command is headed by Air Vice-Marshal Cath Roberts, and works closely with allies and industry partners.

In a separate speech on Tuesday to mark the opening of a new Australian Signals Directorate facility at Majura Park in Canberra, Mr Dutton will describe the cyber domain as the “new frontline” of warfare, and warn Australia “is in the crosshairs” for future Russian and Chinese cyber attacks on our national infrastructure.

As the government moves to position national security as a key election issue, he will point to Russia’s cyber attacks “to harass, intimidate, confuse and pressure the people of Ukraine”, and warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to escalate the scale of such attacks to include Ukraine’s Western partners.

“Indeed, Russia has published a long list of states which it considers ‘unfriendly’; that includes Australia,” Mr Dutton will say.

He will also cite the fact that China’s cyber capabilities have grown in parallel with its military hard power “to a point where our authorities assess that China is now capable of mounting an unprecedented digital onslaught”.

With an election set to be called as early as next week, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews will also hammer the Coalition’s national security credentials on Tuesday in a speech to cybersecurity experts in Sydney.

She will warn the CISO Sydney conference that under “an amateur government”, the digital domain “could become an existential threat to our prosperity, sovereignty, values and principles … no one can afford to be complacent, least of all the owners and operators of our most critical, sensitive and relied-on technologies,” she will say.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/space-force-ready-to-rocket-ahead-says-peter-dutton/news-story/c949262f6fc8d46e0b59eff1fd2dbbaa