and priorities before the senate armed services subcommittee on strategicse forces. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> call to order the meeting of the strategic forces subcommittee of the senate committee on armed services. our hearing today is on the subject of theis space force. i want to thank general saltzman for being with us today, before this committee, and the purpose of the hearing is to understand your vision and priorities for the space force as its second chief of space operations. while the budget for the department of defense and the space force has just been released, we plan to buy the space budget hearing which includes the space force later in may after we've had time to understand in detail the president's at your request. there are many complicated topics such as missile warnings and launch that will take time to understand and are not really right for this hearing today but we will take up in may. instead, the hearing will focus on you, general saltzman. this iss your opportunity to explain to the subcommittee into the public how you will train and equip the space force as the department of defense separate military service, and the upper center of forces to the combatant commanders in order to accomplish their missions as defined by the president. my understanding is that today you will explain to us your three lines of effort for our space force guardians. as i understand that are to first deal to combat ready force, second, amplify the guardian spirit, third, partner with the interagency allies and industry to win. i look forward to have the you explain in detail with each of these lines ofha effort are and giveh us examples, simple ones, the we can take with us and explain to our constituents and the public, the importance of the work you're doing. let let me conclude that general hyten said it best, they're so such thing as a conflict in spaceco by itself. any conflict will involve all domains, , although i believe it will start in space. the land, the sea, the air and space altogether at once. i hope that today you will explain to us how your vision for the space force will meet the generals astute observation and enable our combatant commanders to accomplish the mission that the president has directed them to perform if called upon. after your opening statement will have questions of five minutes each. senator fischer. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general saltzman, thank you for being here today and for sharing your perspective with the subcommittee, and thank you for your many, many years of service. you are only the second ever chief of space operations and any an unique position to leave a mark on what is still essentially a brand-new military service. an opportunity like this comes around less than once l and a generation, and i'm sure you feel i the gravity and the expectation of this every single day. i look forward to hearing more of your vision for this newest service branch, specifically how your warming get into a fighting force that is ready to prosecute war as part of the united states military. i would also like to understand how you are shaping the space acquisition enterprise to that vision, enabling the joint force. t thank you, mr. chairman. >> general saltzman. >> chairman king, ranking member fischer,in distinguished members of the subcommittee, thanks for your continued support for the opportunity to discuss my vision and priorities to the united states space force. i have been in listening mode since becoming the second chief of space operations just four months ago. one of my first phone calls as the cso was to the command of u.s.-european command, general cavoli. my first trip as the cso was to colorado springs to meet in person with the committed u.s. space command general dickenson. my first overseas trip was to hawaii where i met with the command of u.s. indo-pacific command admiral aquilino. during these last for months i've also prioritize visiting with regarding performing vital missions around the world for the space force, for the joint force, and for the nation. in december i met in person with military space chief from australia,it canada, france, germany, new zealand and united kingdom. all these engagements michael was to better understand how the space force should focus its there and midterm efforts as reintegrate our capabilities to address the threats and challenges. i think some these engagement should surprise no one. these combatant commander emphasize the vital role space plays in strategic competition and integrated deterrence. the gardens of the space force make this possible and are without a doubt the brightest andhe boldest america has to offer. because of these advantages and our shared interest in the domain, u.s. allies and international partners are eager for expanded collaboration with the space force, especially in areas of the strengthen the effectiveness of coalition space operationsof and reinforce norms of responsible behavior. in short, ourur mission forces, people and partnerships make the space force the most formidable space organization on the planet. china and russia know this and are accelerating their efforts to undermine u.s. advantages in the domain. to meet this challenge of the space force will prioritize three lines of effort. as senatore king as already stated. fielding combat ready forces, amplify and the guardian spirit, and partnering to win. these lines of effort are designed to deliver the forces, personnel and partnerships required for the space force to preserve u.s.or advantages in space. and before expand on the space force like the effort i'd like to update the subcommittee on emerging threats space force has faced. as the head that i provided indicates, space is undeniable i contested and congested war fighting domain. when describing space threat it's important to account for two kinds of threats. first, threats from space assets, and second, threats to space assets. threats from space present a growing danger to the joint force. both china and russia have robust space-based capabilities that allow them to find, target at attack u.s. military forces on land, at sea, and in the air. equally alarming of the threats that endanger the satellites the nation relies on for prosperity and security. both china and russia continue to develop field and deploy a range of weapons aimed at u.s. space capabilities. the spectrum of threats do space capabilities include cyber warfare activities, electronic attack platforms, directed energy lasers designed too blind or damage satellite sensors, ground orbit missiles to destroy satellites, and space to space or abu engagement systems that can attack u.s. satellites in space. the contents it's based the rates shape seen during purpose of the united states space force. congress established the space force to protect u.s. interests in space. this means protecting your space capabilities and defending the joint force and the nation from space and naval attack. my lines of effort are designed to achieve this vision by providing the forces personal and partnerships required for the space force to preserve u.s. space superiority for the foreseeable future. my first priority is to build resilient ready combat credible space forces. to do this we are accelerating the pivot towards resilient satellite constellations, ground stations, networks and data links. the space to develop an agency has prohibited war fighter space architecture provides a prime example of these efforts.ri we also excited -- preparing guardians to detect and defeat cyber attacks against our networks, systems, ground stations, data links and satellites. we are developing an operational test and training infrastructure that will be the backbone of space force readiness as guardians prepare for a high intensity fight. this infrastructure will allow guardians to execute realistic training against simulatedai adversaries to validate their tactics. space training and readiness command executed one such exercise last september with its inaugural black skies exercise focus on spaceep electromagnetic warfare. through these events were continuously enhancing tactics and operational concepts thereby creating a force ready for emerging threats. my second priority is to amplify the guardiandi spirit by embracg a modern talent management process thatta recruits the best talent, develops and retains an elite workforce and empowers a guardians to succeed. one example is our constructive service credit program that allows experienced professionals fromow key fields to directly commission into the space force ats ranks appropriate to their civilian experience. first constructive served as a pilot program in 2022 and recruited seven cyber professionals to become guardians, one of which was on board as a lieutenant colonel. the second board will incorporate intelligence professionals and assess 20 additional personnel. over the last year with also deployed space center curricula for basic military training and reserve training officer training corps in office to any school. in addition a partnership with the the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies for professional military education begins this. summer. with congressional support we will improve our modern talent management system by integrating the air force reserve space element into the space force as a singleor component. this will allow guardians to transition between full-time and part-time duty to pursue opportunities outside of full-time military service and subsequently return to full-time duty without barriers to reentry or detriment to their career. we will ensure that such experience is utilized in strict internal compliance with federal acquisition and ethics regulations and appropriate conflict of interest statutes. single service personnel managementer system will make retaining highly qualified guardians easier by facilitating flexible career paths. we look for to working with the subcommittee on that important initiative. my third and final priority is to strengthen partnerships the space force allies on to accomplish its mission. the space was will strive to eliminate barriers to collaboration including overclassification so we can build enduring advantages with our partners. to date personnel from over 50 countries have participated in training, education, and exercise events hosted by the space force. we are also leveraging allies and partners to expand our war fighting capability. recent examples include deploying u.s. payloads on norwegian and japanese satellites, and , and estaba partnership with luxembourg for satellite communication services. in total we have morexe than 200 foreign military sales cases withha over 60 countries for a broad spectrum of space capabilities. commercial partners will be key as we pursue emerging technologies like advance power, propulsion technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and in space servicing assembly and manufacturing. space systems commands commercial services office is building his partnerships to improve our ability totn leverae more commercial off the shelf capabilities. in conclusion, thank your for the opportunity to share these priorities with you today. .. i very much look forward to your questions. thank you. >> i want to jump on the comments you made about recruiting and bringing people in and having flexibility about leaving and coming back. flush that out a little bit for me. it strikes me that that will be necessary in today's environment. particularly in the technology field. >> yes, sir. we currently do not have the ability because our reserves. if you leave full-time active service from the space force, we lose your expertise. looking for anything that can allow us to retain those people that may have priorities that shift but may contribute to the service. >> do wene need space national guard? >> i think that there's a couple e of different ways to do it. we assessed three different options. we can leave things as they are which i think is the worst solution. as general brown points out, as the chief of the air force he does not have equipped responsibilities for space missions yet he has a space cap abilities in the air national guard. trying to figure out what is trained under the air national guard. the most untenable position, but there are other options that we are going through a series to figure out what a preferred option may be. >> is one of them to partner with the air national guard different units have different functions? is that one of the possibilities? rather than set up a no space national guard structure. >> we are currently partnered with the new status. making sure we could rely on the capabilities in the air national guard. it just contains a long-term sustainment problem. >> let me back up for a minute. how are you doing on recruiting? some of the other services are having real problems with recruiting in this economy. how is the space force doing. >> i'm almost embarrassed in front of my peers to say it, but we are doing very well. much smaller numbers to recruit and we have the ability to handpick those that decide they want to join the space force. right now, we are doing okay. the problem will be sustainment over time and the quality of applicants we can pull in. retaining them for long enough to really benefit from their experience. >> you mentioned several times commercial assets, commercial space assets. you know rush is trying to or otherwise is that president making it more difficult to do that? one of the strategies is using commercial satellites. what has been the reaction to star lincoln ukraine. it is under a broader number of participants, if you will. the commercial augmentation spacesp reserve, we are trying o establish a craft like fleet that uses commercial capabilities. we are exploring options to use something along those lines. the key is to make sure that the expectations are managed upfront going through a series of plans, going through you industry days, if you will. what are the policies, what are the legal responsibilities and hurdles that we have to clear in order to establish this so that the expectations are clear across all expectations. >> this is an evolving kind of capability. >> it is. ite will tell you that we had significant interests. eighty-four participants from commercial industry. >> i will ask you a question that i get asked at home. what is the difference between space force and space command. >> i get asked that it home to sometimes. as simple as it commands with the other services. indo pacific command in the u.s. acnavy. for the u.s. space command and u.s. space force, we simply have different responsibilities. as a chief of the space force i ceresponsibility to organize equipped train and operate the forces presented to u.s. space command which has the authority's from president and secretary of defense to direct those operations. >> your organize training equip space command is operate or fight. >> they have the authority from president to conduct those missions.or they would direct our forces presented to them to conduct the operations. >> thank you. thank you. senator fisher. >> we discussed the nexgen op ir satellite program. one of the key components. architecture along with proliferated in smaller satellites operating inra the lower ordinate. during yourr nomination hearing you stated that having no gaps in c coverage for missile warnig was a a high priority. the mission is the cornerstone of our strategic deterrent. if we cannot effectively respond , if we cannot detect when our adversaries are launching nuclear weapons, we are in trouble. funding the nexgen op ir. given the importance of this no failed mission i am concerned to see that the budget request appears to be cutting the next satellite. do they intend to complete that? >> the real architecture that we need is -- can you hear me? the architecture we really need is one that is survivable in a contested domain. mid earth orbits as well. that is what the space development agency in the analysis that we did is progressing towards. that is the investment we made to make that pivot. a pretty big technical shift, we wanted to w make sure that we hd some hedges to make sure that we did not miss anything. we are committed to putting that in orbit and we felt that a two by two was sufficient to ensure that the mission did not have any gaps, that it was a hedge against any technical risk associated with the pivot to the more survivable architecture. >> you are saying that with this pivot, the two lower orbits, you have no plans. >> we have though plans with nexgen op ir four to geo into eo they have those four satellites in it. the long-term transition to the proliferated warning system. geo satellites are too much of a target. it lowers the threshold for attack on orbit. it creates a level of deterrence >> the major acquisition programs executed by space force have been late. they have cost overruns or both. does the space force acquisition community, i guess, how do you plan to address that and do you agree with my assessment? >> i've been in this business a long time. i've certainly see the things that you are noting there. i cannot argue with the facts. i have been very impressed with the way they have reorganized how we are doing space acquisition. with his employment for space acquisition integration, he has focused on several different things. flying small satellites, having shorter-term contracts, going with well developed technologies so that we do not have been a nonrecurring engineering costs. >> i'm sorry to interrupt you, but when you say well developed technology, you want to make sure things are proven? would you say that you are risk adverse then? >> we want to make sure that before we commit to putting something on orbit we want to leverage it to the max extent. otherwise youe have to build everything from scratch. it can get in that spiral where you spend more money and delay the timelines. wedv should take advantage of those. i think in satellite production, that is exactly where his head is on that. again, i cannot speak to all the programs that have existed since we'veve been putting satellitesn orbit, but i can tell you that the community has shifted to a different mindset to how to acquire systems. i think the space development agency acquisition strategy is an example where it is going in about four years from order to orbit which i is substantially better than we've seen in other programs. >> thank you. >> i would like to call on our only committee member who's been in space. mr. kelly. >> thank you. i will go a little bit different. different approacht here. to the ranking members question, you talked about there is a little bitit of a deterrent by putting something at a lower orbit. why is it more likely that an adversary go after something they it is if they are at a n.lower orbit. if this sounds at all like i am lecturing an astronaut, i am not. it is more than the orbital regime. to provide the coverage you have to provide a greater number of satellites. dozens instead of from geo you can have a single orbit that would look at one third of the earth. which one do you want to shoot down. >> it is proliferated leo. >> they have to shoot more rounds. >> so much more that i think that the escalatory threshold has raised the point where they probably would not do it. >> okay. that is helpful. general of the nro air force base for satellites that we put into orbit, what percentage of those in space force responsible for, you know, the contracting, the management of the operations to get to the targeted orbit. >> what percentage you have? >> let me get back to you. >> the nro has a number of constellations for its mission. i'm trying to think if there any