US warfighters are losing a massive force multiplier advantage as China advances in space

U.S. dominance successful abstraction has agelong served arsenic a monolithic unit multiplier for the American warfighter. Today, that dominance is progressively powered by commercialized abstraction companies delivering precocious technologies—from regular Earth reflection images to satellite-based net and planetary telecom networks. These capabilities assistance our troops navigate, detect, and enactment faster than adversaries.

But arsenic global tensions escalate, American enactment is astatine risk—from some overseas adversaries and shortsighted decisions astatine home.

During a May 14th hearing, Rep. Seth Moulton warned that the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) had reportedly slashed backing for commercial outer imagery successful the adjacent fiscal budget. These projected cuts aren’t conscionable a menace to the warfighter and our nationalist security—they besides jeopardize the viability of the U.S. commercialized abstraction sector.

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From battlefield targeting to situational awareness, today’s missions progressively trust connected persistent commercialized outer coverage. Weakening that capableness leads to slower decisions, reduced effectiveness, and greater hazard for U.S. and allied forces. These cuts endanger to undermine our quality capabilities and weaken our borderline successful the planetary abstraction race.

China is wasting nary time. Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. (CGST), a Chinese government-funded commercialized imaging company, operates implicit 100 satellites and an precocious connection architecture, and is positioning itself to disrupt markets, signifier planetary norms, and cod quality astatine scale. This represents a important advancement successful China’s outer imaging and connection capabilities, and according to Western quality officials, Chinese commercialized satellites have been utilized by Russia to representation captious Ukrainian infrastructure, including atomic powerfulness plants, successful mentation for rocket strikes.

This is portion of a troubling trend: authoritarian regimes are weaponizing commercialized abstraction faster than we are defending against it.

Ironically, our allies and partners often follow these American-made technologies faster than our ain government. Allied defence agencies are incorporating U.S. commercialized imagery and analytics much efficaciously than the precise agencies that helped make them. The RAND Corporation recently cited Ukraine’s usage of U.S. commercialized abstraction technology arsenic an asymmetric vantage implicit Russia. Their study concluded: "U.S. policymakers should proceed processing robust declaration arrangements with commercialized abstraction providers."

Yet little than 1% of combined Department of Defense and Intelligence Community budgets are spent connected commercialized space. Even elder quality officials admit the problem. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently noted that authorities agencies often reinvent tools the backstage assemblage has already developed much efficiently. Although commercialized satellites make terabytes of information daily, the authorities uses lone a fraction. Decision-makers astatine NRO and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) inactive prioritize bespoke, classified satellites that instrumentality years to physique and outgo exponentially much than comparable commercialized alternatives disposable now. They besides make large, susceptible targets for adversaries, portion dual-use capabilities are acold much practically and perceptively resilient.

After the Cold War, America took its space dominance for granted and came to trust connected Russian rockets to transport American astronauts. We can’t spend to marque the aforesaid mistake with commercialized outer technology. While bipartisan enactment for commercialized abstraction innovation exists, it indispensable present beryllium matched with decisive and sustained investment. Instead of cutting captious initiatives, palmy programs similar the Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL) indispensable beryllium safeguarded and expanded. Procurement processes indispensable beryllium modernized crossed defence and quality agencies to support up with fast-moving private-sector technologies. That means sending a clear, accordant request signal—not the instability of continuing resolutions oregon last-minute reversals.

Cutting enactment for commercialized abstraction assets besides contradicts President Trump’s nationalist information priorities. The president has accurately recognized abstraction arsenic "the adjacent war-fighting domain." His medication has supported private-sector innovation and issued executive orders favoring commercial-first procurement.

But rhetoric isn’t enough—we request structural reform. Congress often funds commercialized programs lone for agencies to "reinterpret" the intent and redirect resources toward gathering bespoke authorities systems. This raises a captious question: does it marque consciousness to location commercialized backing wrong agencies that are institutionally incentivized to physique their ain satellites?

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Congress should see placing these funds successful neutral entities that tin get and present commercialized capabilities crossed government. Agencies tin absorption connected the exquisite systems lone they tin build, portion commercialized providers connection scalable, persistent solutions that accommodate rapidly to battlefield needs.

In his 2nd term, President Trump has a historical accidental to usher successful different epoch of American abstraction dominance—while giving the warfighter the tools and accusation they need. But this aboriginal hinges connected a thriving commercialized abstraction assemblage supported by smart, forward-thinking policy.

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Leaders successful Washington indispensable decide: volition they fto outdated reasoning support the world’s champion abstraction exertion disconnected the battlefield—and let China to prehend the precocious hand? Or volition this White House interruption escaped from business-as-usual, put successful American commercialized abstraction capabilities, and unafraid our enactment successful the astir captious domain of the 21st century?

The reply should beryllium obvious—and it is imperative.