Sunday Report 18 May 25

Name: Mitchell Institute Schriever Spacepower Series: Dr. Kelly Hammett
Start: 2025-06-24
End: 2025-06-24
Location: Virtual

he Week In National Security Space

Congress / White House

Meink confirmed as Secretary of the Air Force. On May 13, Dr. Troy Meink was confirmed by the Senate as the 27th Secretary of the Air Force in a vote of 74 to 25. Dr. Meink is expected to prioritize modernizing the Air Force and implementing the Golden Dome missile defense initiative, noting during his March confirmation hearing that these moves would mean deeper collaboration with industry.

House budget panel rejects GOP megabill amid conservative opposition. The House Budget Committee rejected the GOP spending package in a vote with five Republicans joining all Democrats. This presents a setback for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) who has been pushing for the package to pass through the House before the Memorial Day recess. The Budget Committee’s vote is a necessary step that bundles the 11 different bills Republicans have approved over the last few weeks through their policy committees. Committee members are expected to reconvene Sunday for another attempt in hopes of staying on schedule to move on to floor debate next week.

Senate Golden Dome caucus announced. The U.S. Senate has formed a new Golden Dome Caucus focused on developing what could become one of the nation’s most expensive defense initiatives in history. Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) offered a stark assessment of the program’s true scale: “It will not be a $25 billion or $35 billion project. It will likely cost in the trillions if and when Golden Dome is completed. We are in a peer-to-peer fight, and in many cases, peers are better than we are,” Sen. Sheehy warned. And Chief of Space Operations Gen Chance Saltzman remarked at the Politico Security Summit on Thursday that, “I’m 34 years in this business; I’ve never seen an early estimate that was too high…My gut tells me there’s going to be some additional funding that’s necessary.” A significant portion of the initial $25 billion proposed for Golden Dome will fund space-based sensors and interceptors designed to target threat missiles during their boost phase. According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, both Russia and China are developing new delivery systems—including hypersonic weapons and orbital strike platforms—that exploit blind spots in current U.S. defenses.

Emil Michael confirmed as Pentagon tech chief. On May 14, the Senate confirmed Emil Michael as Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in a vote of 54 to 43. In his March 27 testimony, Michael called the R&E office “overly risk averse” and pledged to speed innovation in AI, hypersonics, and quantum tech.

Space Policy

U.S. loosens some rules for offensive counterspace ops. According to Breaking Defense, the U.S. has begun loosening some restrictions on offensive counterspace decision making, delegating limited authorities to SPACECOM under certain circumstances. According to the report, a former Pentagon official shared, “The Office of the Secretary of Defense for Space Policy was engaged in the strongest push I’m aware of to get authorization to use offensive counterspace capabilities delegated down from the [White House] to the [Secretary of Defense] and eventually to” the head of SPACECOM. While delegation of presidential authority with regard to space weapons is obscured by deep secrecy and classification, discussions by Breaking Defense with more than a dozen sources have revealed that gradual but ground-breaking shifts in military freedom to prosecute war in space are moving forward.

International

Gen Saltzman announces closer cooperation with Italy. During this week’s International AeroSpace Power Conference in Rome, Chief of Space Operations Gen Chance Saltzman announced plans for a bilateral Country Action Plan between the U.S. Space Force and the Italian Air Force to strengthen space cooperation. The plan’s framework will look to advance integration through personnel exchanges, joint training and exercises, and expanded information sharing on space domain awareness, missile warning and tracking. Gen Saltzman cited the forthcoming Space Force International Partnership Strategy as foundational to this partnership and reinforced the need for deliberate, coordinated action among spacefaring allies.

Australia’s first home-grown orbital rocket launch delayed. Queensland-based company Gilmour Space had aimed to debut the Eris rocket on Thursday, but a problem with the vehicle’s payload fairing scuttled that plan. In a post, Gilmour said they’re standing down to investigate and fix. The upcoming test flight will be the first for Eris and the spaceport, as well as the first-ever liftoff of an Australian-built orbital rocket. Gilmour Space Technologies, founded by brothers Adam and James Gilmour, began its rocket program in 2015, developing the 82-foot-tall Eris and built the private Bowen Orbital Spaceport on the coast of northern Queensland with the goal of making Australia more of a space player.

Threats

China adds to classified TJS satellite series under continued secrecy. China has added the communication technology experiment satellite-19, or Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-19 (TJS-19), into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) described the satellite’s functions as, “mainly used to carry out multi-band, high-speed satellite communication technology verification.” The TJS series of satellites mainly operates in geostationary orbit (GEO). Western analysts suspect these satellites are carrying out classified missions, including signals intelligence, early warning missions, and satellite inspection activities to support the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). China now has 17 main TJS satellites in orbit. TJS-3, launched in 2018, released an object that carried out subsequent maneuvers. This is just one reason the TJS series of satellites are closely monitored for potential nefarious uses.

Threats Wrap-Up: U.S. adversaries are busy in their efforts to secure dominance in space. Commercial, exploratory, and military advances are abundant, and it is becoming harder for the U.S. to keep pace. At the Politico Security Summit, Chief of Space Operations Gen Chance Saltzman discussed China’s space-based sensor network, warning that the strategy represents the biggest threat in U.S. adversaries’ growing space capabilities. “The PRC has developed what we’ve kind of, you know, tongue in cheek, called a ‘kill web,’ and it’s nothing more than a series of hundreds of satellites that are a sensor network that provide real-time updates, targeting quality information of our force,” Gen Saltzman said.

Another example of novel far-reaching advances in space is China’s launch this week of the first 12 in a series of thousands of satellites. China claims the 12 satellites represent the world’s first dedicated orbital computing constellation. The satellites use advanced AI capabilities, have inter-satellite laser links capable of up to 100 Gbps, and carry remote sensing payloads. This marks a shift from satellites focused solely on sensing or communication to satellites that also serve as data processors and AI platforms. With the potential for future spacecraft to be fully autonomous, this orbiting computer will allow on-board sensing to be combined with data exploitation and probably 3D modeling on board to power evasive maneuvering and potentially non-cooperative targeting capabilities.

The Week Ahead

Sunday, 18 May

GEOINT Symposium 2025 w/ Rep. Wesley Bell, et. al. May 18-21. St. Louis, MO. (more)

Monday, 19 May

GEOINT Symposium 2025 w/ Hon Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Eric Schmitt, Maj Gen Paul Lynch, et. al. St. Louis, MO. (more)
Council of Foreign Relations Robert B. McKeon Endowed Series on Military Strategy and Leadership with Gen B. Chance Saltzman, Gen David Allvin, Gen Randy A. George, Gen Eric M. Smith, Adm James W. Kilby, and Adm Kevin E Lunday. 1830ET. (more)

Tuesday, 20 May

SSCI: To receive a closed briefing on certain intelligence matters. Washington, D.C. (more)

SASC: Hearings to examine the posture of the Department of the Air Force in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2026 and the Future Years Defense Program w/ Hon Troy Meink, Gen David Allvin, and Gen Chance Saltzman. Washington, D.C. & Virtual. (more)