Hundreds of Space Force Guardians are holding the new service’s largest ever military exercises in Hawaii this week, in drills aimed at preparing for “orbital warfare.”
More than 700 guardians, along with other U.S. military and international troops, are taking part in an international exercise called Resolute Space 2025, the service announced.
The goal of the exercise is to practice operating in a contested environment “against high-end threats on short notice,” according to a statement announcing the exercise.
The exercise will practice the use of “space-based and space-enabled capabilities to include, but not limited to, space electromagnetic warfare, space domain awareness, orbital warfare, and navigational warfare,” the statement said.
“Resolute Space sends a clear message: Guardians are prepared to fight and win in space shoulder to shoulder with our joint and allied partners,” said Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations. “By training at this unprecedented scale, we’re sharpening warfighter instincts, strengthening combat credibility, and proving our commitment to deliver peace through strength in the face of any challenge.”
The goal of the exercise is to build skills for guardians to deter and, if necessary, defeat adversary aggression that threatens the U.S. and its allies and partners.
Few details of the exercise taking place are made public, including what kinds of weapons are being used.
The Space Force was formed in 2019 and has a single declared weapon system – an electronic jammer that can disrupt enemy signals between satellites and ground stations. The Space Plane that conducts extended space deployments is said to be a potential weapons platform.
Military officials have said that the Space Force was restricted from developing space weaponry during the Biden administration.
That is changing under the Trump administration. The Golden Dome missile-defense system plans to deploy space-based missiles that can knock out enemy missiles.
The Space Force did not respond to a request for what weapons were being used in the Hawaii exercise.
Space Force Col. Jay Steingold, the exercise director, said the drills are focused on readiness and training and incorporate live, synthetic, and virtual space warfighting skills.
The exercises are mainly taking place at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and that location suggests the simulations will be carried out against China’s space warfare troops.
China has an array of space warfare capabilities that include anti-satellite missiles, lasers, jammers, cyberattack capabilities and robot satellites.
Other parts of the exercises are taking place at Peterson, Schriever, and Buckley Space Force Bases in Colorado. Other locations in the U.S. and abroad are also involved.
Gen. Saltzman and other service leaders have discussed deploying offensive space weapons, including electromagnetic arms and direct attack systems using both kinetic and non-kinetic means.
Resolute Space is part of several Air Force exercises now underway that began July 8 and included a total of 12,000 airmen and guardians and more than 350 aircraft.
