Gen. Stephen Whiting, Commander, UD Space Command, speaks in May 2025 at the US Naval War College. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Connor Burns)
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. ― Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of US Space Command (SPACECOM) today said that along with non-kinetic weapons such as jammers, the joint force also needs the capability for destructive attacks on adversary space systems to win tomorrow’s space wars.
Whiting told the annual Army Space and Missile Defense Symposium here that SPACECOM’s top two priorities for fiscal 2029 through 2033 are “integrated space fires” and capabilities to counter large constellations of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) in order to establish space superiority.
“We’re a combatant command and we fight to win wars. To win, we need credible, acknowledged, kinetic and non-kinetic fires. They are a key component of how we establish space superiority and restore credible deterrence,” he said.
Whiting did not provide specific examples of weapons sought to carry out either sort of attack, nor did he provide a definition of the term “space fires” ― a capability that topped his 2027 list of priorities as well.
