Defence Minister Peter Dutton announces US-style Space Force for Australia

Australia is set to follow America’s lead in creating a ‘Space Force’ to protect critical satellites from the threat of authoritarian powers like Russia and China.

In a speech to the Royal Australian Air Force air and space power conference on Tuesday, Peter Dutton will announce details of the new military branch known as the Defence Space Command. 

‘We know that some countries are developing capabilities to threaten or degrade space networks, to target satellites, and to destroy space systems,’ the Defence Minister will say.

‘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. It is a domain which must be used to deter aggression, rather than become a new realm for conflict.’   

Australia is set to follow America’s lead in creating a ‘Space Force’ to protect critical satellites from the threat of authoritarian powers like Russia and China. Pictured: US Space Force logo

One of the triggers for the move was Russia’s anti-satellite missile test in November last year.

The frightening weapon blasted a redundant Soviet-era intelligence satellite to pieces leaving about 1,500 pieces of debris cannoning orbiting the planet ‘that could take decades to clear’

NASA and the Biden Administration labelled the botched missile test on the Kosmos 1408, ‘unconscionable’ and said the weapon was a threat to space exploration and scientific discovery. 

Mr Dutton will say that creating a military presence in the ‘new realm for conflict’ is a ‘necessary endevour’ as the final frontier is becoming increasingly crowed with more that 7,500 satellites orbiting the globe. 

‘Space is becoming more congested and is already contested – particularly as the boundaries between competition and conflict become increasingly blurred through grey-zone activities,’ Mr Dutton will say.