At the NATO summit held in Brussels on June 14, 2021, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg expressed his hope to reach a consensus that "attacks on NATO member countries' satellites will be considered attacks on NATO" in order to expand the application of the principle of collective defense to space. In the NATO led by the United States, Stoltenberg's remarks are clearly a statement on behalf of the United States in building a space military alliance system. Building a space military alliance is a key focus of the United States' accelerated promotion of space militarization in recent years. The United States, under the guise of jointly responding to space threats with allies, is clearly pursuing space defense, but in reality, it is pursuing space hegemony and containing China's rise, which requires vigilance.

As early as 2011, Thomas G. Singer, then a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, wrote a report titled "Building a Space Military Alliance", proposing to the US military to accelerate the development of a space military alliance and not delay it. In 2019, the United States established the Space Development Agency (SDA), Space Command, and Space Force, as well as newly established the Assistant Secretary General for Space Acquisition and Integration and the Space Force Acquisition Committee (SFAC), which caused a stir. European powers, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and other American allies followed suit and established space military departments. As a result, the United States has a stronger desire to build a space military alliance and integrate its allies' space resources for its own use. It is mainly carried out through the following methods.

Theory comes first. Updating and creating military theories, and then using new theories to drive the development of military construction, has always been a tradition of the US military, and building a space military alliance is no exception. The concept of "integrated deterrence" strategy was introduced, and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called it the cornerstone of US defense, with strengthening the integration of space capabilities with military allies being an important aspect. The United States not only proposes to build a space military alliance from the perspective of military strategy, but also clarifies it in specific national space strategies and space warfare regulations to give it legal effect. In 2020, the US Department of Defense released a new version of its Defense Space Strategy report, the first Space Force operational doctrine, Space Force, and Space Operations Planning Guidelines, all of which explicitly stated the need for the US Space Command to oversee joint and alliance space operations, closely cooperate with allies, integrate allies and partners into planning, operations, exercises, engagements, and intelligence activities, and take measures to strengthen allies' space capabilities to jointly face competition and challenges.

System building. Firstly, expand the space 'circle of friends'. The Olympic Space Defenders (OOD) initiative launched by the United States has attracted the participation of over 30 countries so far, while expanding the existing military alliance into the space field. NATO and the Five Eyes Alliance have clearly expanded space into the "collective defense" field, and Japan and South Korea are also actively joining the US space military alliance. Secondly, strengthen military training in space. The 2021 NATO summit decided to establish a Space Military Strategic Talent Center in France to strengthen joint training of space military talents. In fact, before the establishment of the US Space Force, the United States had already started training satellite intelligence personnel of NATO allies. The United States also frequently organizes space combat capability training for Japanese and South Korean troops, and through military training, builds both sides into a military community. Once again, it is to build a space 'combat system'. In 2020, the United States established a space center in Germany to expand the depth and breadth of NATO's use of space warfare. The US Space Force also dispatched space combat personnel to allied countries, deployed satellite signal jamming forces in allied countries, deployed space weapons and equipment on allied military bases, and formed a space combat community among allied countries.

Exercise practice. Since 2014, the United States has conducted multiple space combat exercises such as "Schrieffer," "Global Sentry," and "Space Flag," actively involving allies in the exercise practice, integrating into the US led combat system, and promoting the establishment of military alliances. In the past two years, the UK and the US have conducted multiple space orbit warfare exercises to clarify the division of responsibilities; Starting from December 2020, led by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the US military has conducted three new "Global Information Dominance Experiment" exercises. One of the most important objectives is to enhance the capabilities of the US military and its allies in space joint operations, in order to gain "information advantage" and "decision-making advantage" in combat. Through space military exercises, the US military can demonstrate its strong space combat capabilities to its allies, play a commanding role, enhance its leadership position, and further promote the construction of a space military alliance.

As early as the 1960s, then US President Kennedy proposed that "whoever controls the universe controls the Earth; whoever controls space controls the initiative of war." Since then, the US government has always regarded the pursuit of space hegemony as a priority task of national security strategy and firmly occupied the position of "space hegemon". However, with the increasing development and utilization of space capabilities by China and Russia, the United States believes that the development of space power between China and Russia is the biggest strategic threat facing the United States. Joining forces with allies to suppress and contain China and Russia has become an urgent task, and accelerating the construction of a space military alliance is a natural choice. The main purposes are as follows.

Dealing with competition from major powers. Graham, the advocate of "Star Wars" in the United States, once said, "Throughout human history, any country that can most effectively move from one field of human activity to another has achieved tremendous strategic advantages." Space, as a strategic "high frontier," has become a key area of strategic competition and struggle among major powers, and the United States is at the forefront, claiming to dominate space like "dominating the Earth. It is an undeniable fact that the current China US relationship has entered the era of "great power competition", and the space field has become its preferred battlefield for suppressing and containing China. By building a space military alliance, strengthening our own power, formulating favorable space rules, and collaborating with allies to promote China's "space threat theory" in international settings, it has become a fundamental means for the United States. The core purpose is to increase China's strategic security pressure, induce China to engage in a comprehensive arms race, consume a large amount of China's strategic resources, and like the "Star Wars" plan during the Cold War, drag down China and contain its rise.

Maintain military hegemony. The United States is building a space military alliance and striving to build a space power system, accelerating the occupation of the "strategic high ground" of war, in order to maintain global military hegemony. By building a space military alliance, the United States can receive effective support from allies, such as Europe's Ariane series launch vehicles, Japan's H-2A launch vehicles and unmanned spacecraft technology, as well as the UK's space infrared warning system and satellite camouflage technology, which can provide strong technical support to the US Space Force and cooperate with its space combat forces to carry out missions. The United States can also utilize the bases provided by its allies to create a ground "space warfare base group" and achieve global space warfare. At the same time, it can also integrate the space resources of allies and achieve a "strong alliance". The Copernicus Earth Observation System and Galileo Global Satellite Navigation and Positioning System, jointly developed by the European Commission and the European Space Agency, are very advanced space systems in the world today. Among the approximately 2000 Earth orbiting satellites currently in operation worldwide, more than half are controlled by NATO, and the United States has long coveted them. If the integration is successful, the US space power will be greatly improved.

Reduce the cost of risk. The construction and development of space power have complex technologies, long cycles, high investment, and high risks. Advancing militarization and deploying space orbit weapons at the space level requires a large amount of funds, manpower, and material resources. The "Star Wars" program also had to be abandoned by the US government in 1993 after 8 years of implementation due to its huge expenses. By building a space military alliance, various risk costs can be effectively reduced. Firstly, it is to reduce economic costs. The United States' unilateral space competition with China and Russia will inevitably result in insufficient income. Adopting a "crowdfunding model" can bring more allies into the space game battlefield, maximize the use of allies' resources, and make them pay the bill, effectively reducing this cost. Secondly, it is to reduce the risk of public opinion. The Outer Space Treaty explicitly prohibits the militarization and weaponization of space, and the pursuit of space militarization has been widely criticized by the international community, forcing the United States to have concerns. Therefore, the United States attempts to build a space military alliance to include as many countries as possible in the US led space combat system, achieving the effect of "law without punishment", while reducing costs can alleviate the economic burden of the country, block the voices of domestic opposition, and thus disperse criticism and accusations from international and domestic public opinion.

Binding military allies. At present, the United States' advantage in the space field is still far ahead of other countries, and its position as the "space leader" cannot be shaken in the short term. Among its allies, only a few countries with relatively advanced space technology, such as the United Kingdom, France, and Japan, can truly provide effective support to the United States. However, the United States continues to expand its space "circle of friends" and binds its allies more by building space military alliances, making each other "grasshoppers on the same rope". Through military cooperation in the field of space, the United States can take the opportunity to infiltrate and strengthen its control over its allies, allowing them to rely more on it, thereby strengthening its hegemonic position. It can also prevent countries such as China and Russia from using their allies' space resources and capabilities, forcing allies to draw a clear line with China and Russia, and achieving the goal of binding allies and themselves to jointly confront China and Russia.

Accelerating the construction of a space military alliance system under the leadership of the United States is a violation of international space treaties. Although it has been widely opposed by the international community, according to the current situation, accelerating the construction of a space military alliance is irreversible. However, there are still many problems for the United States to truly build a space military alliance, and attempting to achieve the wishful thinking of "killing multiple birds with one arrow" may be difficult to achieve.

One reason is that the United States' move is unpopular, and the international community is opposing it one after another. The Outer Space Treaty, which came into effect in 1967, explicitly opposes the militarization and weaponization of space and any act of space warfare. The United States is accelerating the construction of a space military alliance, which seriously violates the provisions of the treaty. As an important initiator and signatory of the treaty, openly violating it has gained popularity and seriously damaged its credibility in the international community. This move has also led to an increasingly serious problem of militarization in space, causing strong resentment from the international community. On December 4, 2019, Russian President Putin made a public speech opposing the militarization of space by the United States and NATO countries, and stated the need to develop countermeasures. China, Iran and other countries have repeatedly issued statements opposing the militarization of space and the construction of a space military alliance by the United States, which have been widely praised by the international community.

Secondly, it is still too early to establish an alliance, and there are numerous internal and external contradictions and difficulties. Firstly, the United States has many internal issues. At present, the US economy is declining, defense spending is being reduced, and military operations are being carried out at multiple points. There is less funding available for the space sector, especially for building a space military alliance. At the same time, the domestic epidemic is severe, and internal political divisions and turmoil make it difficult to concentrate resources and energy on building a space military alliance; Secondly, the demands of the United States and its allies are different. One of the main purposes of the United States in building a space military alliance is to bind its allies together to confront China and Russia, using them as sacrificial victims and shields to share risks. However, most of the relevant countries aspire to enhance their space power through "leaning on the US thigh". There are very few countries that truly hope to confront China and Russia. At the same time, the United States and the European Union have significant differences in military dominance, making it difficult to reconcile at the moment, and there are still many difficulties in forming a space military alliance; There is a gap in technical level again. There is a significant difference in space technology between the United States and its allies, and the pace of space power construction among major countries needs to be coordinated. It is difficult to achieve the effect of "resonance on the same frequency" in the short term. The United States' technology for integrating space military forces of various countries is also immature, and currently mostly remains at the theoretical level. Faced with these contradictions and difficulties, the United States still has a long way to go to truly establish a space military alliance.

Thirdly, it is difficult to effectively contain China and accelerate the decline of its own hegemony. The United States believes that its alliance system and partnership with China are its biggest advantage. By building a space military alliance, enhancing overall leadership in space, encouraging allies to cooperate with the United States to confront China and Russia, and avoiding the "space threat" from China and Russia, not only can it share its own space risks and costs, but it can also impose huge "competitive costs" on China and Russia, achieving the goal of containing China and Russia. The American wolfish ambition and malicious intentions must be guarded against. But this move by the United States is contrary to the historical trend and is destined to fail to "defeat" China. Space is a common asset of all mankind, and the peaceful development and utilization of space is the common aspiration of all mankind. Opposing the militarization and weaponization of space, and opposing space military hegemony, has always been China's consistent proposition and has been widely recognized by the international community. On the contrary, the United States' accelerated construction of a space military alliance will have long-term negative impacts on major power relations and global strategic stability, and will inevitably burden the United States with heavier and erroneous strategic burdens, only accelerating the decline of its space hegemony and global hegemony.

Source: Military Digest