The Democrats are in control, and they want to slash programs that were a top priority of President Donald Trump. Space Force is at the top of their hit list. After all, who needs guardians to watch over U.S. global military operations?
Well, Space Force has proven that they’re worth every penny within the United States defense budget. They were recently recognized for foiling an Iranian missile attack.
It was just a year ago that Iran launched ballistic missiles at U.S. and coalition forces based in Iraq. It was their revenge for assassinating General Soleimani. Although those missiles caused a significant amount of damage to a helicopter, some equipment, and more, no one was killed.
Why is that? Space Force to the rescue!
An early warning system was in place that allowed for the evacuation of many troops. Those who had to remain behind were able to take cover in bunkers.
While it wasn’t something that could be revealed at the time, it can be now. The early warning system was a Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS). Essentially, it is a constellation of satellites responsible for surveilling the surface of the Earth at all times.
The 2nd Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base is a part of Space Force. They’ve proven why it’s critical that Space Force continue to receive funding. Whether it was a push from President Trump or not, they are a valuable member of the military.
They are the ones that operated SBIRS and issued the critical early warning that saved so many lives.
The guardians were able to read the data provided by the satellites and report it out. It’s what they were trained to do. It was a day that will go down in military history books because they did what they were trained to do.
As the squadron’s commander, Lt. Col. Brandon Davenport says, “That’s why it felt surreal, because it felt like any other day other than the fact that we all knew there were Americans and allies on the other end of that missile.”
How many lives were actually saved because of the critical early warning that was spent by the Space Force squadron? It’s impossible to know, but it’s estimated to have saved the lives of hundreds. Rather than it being a massacre, it only ended with some injuries – a significant improvement on what it could have been.
It was known that the tensions between the United States and Iran were mounting. Those who were part of the squadron knew that their focus was Iran. They knew that the region required more supervision – and that tension rose dramatically after the drone strike that assassinated Soleimani.
It led to a significant amount of planning. Space Force knew that Iran was going to exact its revenge in one way or another. They coordinated with the intelligence community as well as those within the Department of Defense. Satellite sensors were positioned in order to get the best coverage for the region.
1st Lt. Christianna Castaneda explains that there’s the ability to “tailor how we collect things.” This made it possible to establish a strategy to determine the kind of retaliation that Iran was setting up.
SBIRS was built by Lockheed Martin with infrared sensors that came from Northrop Grumman. The six satellites that make up the constellation include four geosynchronous satellites as well as two hosted payloads. They can detect the infrared light that’s created when ballistic missiles are launched. It allows Space Force to see missiles launch from all over the world.
The price for this system? $20 billion. It’s a small price to pay when it is capable of saving lives and protecting valuable military assets.
Now that the technology is being shared publicly and it’s known how Space Force is truly making a difference, a Democratic Congress would have a difficult time defending how they could cut funding – and put the U.S. at risk of losing so much should a missile be fired without us knowing about it.
