Russia and china pose in these areas. This is just over two hours good morning. The Committee Meets today to receive testimony from general anthony cotton, commander of u. S. Strategic command or stratcom. And generals steven whiting, commander of u. S. Spacecom or spacecom. Gentlemen, thank you for your service to the nation and extend our thanks to the men and women who serve with you. As in the past we have asked the commanders the stratcom and spacecom to testify together. Until 2019. Spacecom was a part of Strategic Command. Mr. Reed as spacecom continues as an independent command, its important to identify any gaps or seams that emerged during the transition. On the global stage, russia continues to behave recklessly. Recent press reports state that russia is considering violating International Space treaties and endangering the global use of space for Vital Communications and sensing. Further, putin has stab staged the strategy stability and arms control policies both our nations have respected for decades. Over the past year, russia has suspended its participation in the star treaty and the comprehensive test ban treaty. Russia continues to develop new third Strike Nuclear weapons ranging from multimegaton nuclear war tore paoedzos to cruise missiles. At the same time, china is advancing its missile capabilities. They are quickly expanding its land base missile silos, pwaoeulding new air and sea nuclear platforms. And completing its nc3. These developments may have significant impacts on stability in the indopacific and americas commitment to our allies in the region. Since we are now in a try lateral tri lateral era. General cotton, i would ask for your thoughts on how your command is handling this challenge and how you plan to adjust your structure to deter both russia and china while minimizing the potential for escalation. Chair read there has been in nonrecruited reach which means the program must undergo reviews and analysis for cost overruns. For this year 2024 ndaa require an assessment of the operational impacts of these acquisition delays and would ask for an update on the situation. General whiting, the threats to the United States and allied Space Systems continue to increase. As we are seeing in ukraine, dominance in the electromagnetic spectrum plays a vital role in modern warfare. We have seen large swaths of the battlefield in ukraine incomparable due to g. P. S. Denial for precision weapons, as well as the disabling of commercial slight systems that both militaries use. China for its part has invested heavily in jamming the electronic and connect kwreubg technologies that could be used to disability our military and civilian lights. We are in a race to dominate this field because any future conflict will involve a constant battle to control the spectrum and cripple the adversarys Communications Command and control. I would ask for your roles and vulnerabilities in these systems and Lessons Learned from the conflict in ukraine. Space command has announced its reached full Operational Capability. I remind you that does not mean full commission readiness. As a war fighting domain, space requires new Battle Management cape inters, especially the ability to detect a threat in space and relay that information to a weapons system. This management directs our ability to protect troops on the ground and spacecom must continue to integrate fully with the commanders. I hope youll update us on this concept and what the committee can do. Finally, i would note the Missile Defense mission was transferred from stratcom to spacecom. This mission set has never been more important for our troops around the world as we have seen threats increasing in the red sea, middle east, and ukraine. I would like to know how you are integrating Missile Defense into your command and what capabilities you need to protect our war fighters. Thank you again to our witnesses for appearing today. I look forward to your testimony. I would note from my colleagues that there will be a classified briefing immediately following this session in room 217 to continue our discussion. Let me recognize the Ranking Member. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Wicker thank you to the witnesses for their service. Senator wicker last years Strategic Posture Commission issued a report that was disquieting. Its conclusion was that the United States must fundamentally update our nuclear and Space Programs if we have any hope of countering growing threats from russia and china. Unfortunately, the Current Administration has naively maintained the status quo. I am choosing my words carefully. In making this statement. While the United States has stayed complacent, russia and china have advanced by leaps and bounds in their nuclear and Space Programs. As we enter the third year of putins war against ukraine, russia remains a major strategic threat to the United States. Moscow owns the worlds largest, most modern Nuclear Arsenal giving it a 10 to one advantage over the United States in tactical Nuclear Weapons. Russia has also developed new weapons unlike anything in the u. S. Inventory. It stocks Nuclear Powered transoceanic, autonomous torpedoes and intercontinental cruise missiles against such weapons we are currently defenseless. As bad as this sounds, china is rapidly becoming an even greater threat. Beijing is phodendizing and expanding its Nuclear Forces at breakneck speed. It will likely outpace the United States in the early 2030s. Already it successfully deployed an operational strategic triade of nuclear missiles, bombers, and submarines. Over the past three years china has tripled its arsenal and pwaeult network larger than ours. The chinese have flown a missile that can drop Nuclear Warheads from orbit anywhere onert et with virtually no warning. Both russia and china are also openly developing and testing Counter Space capabilities. Each country has used ken nettic weapons kenetic weapons to owe phreut rate obliterate orbiting satellites. When this is done the blasts scatter thousands of debris fragments, endangered hundreds of other satellites, and preview a frightening future. Unfortunately, these aggressive actions only scratch the surface of their real capabilities. One would expect these threats to generate a sense of urgency in washington. Todays nuclear and space danger should prompt us to reassess our assumptions about the threat, environment, and realign our resources accordingly. This is the unanimous recommendation of the bipartisan Strategic Posture Commission. Unanimous recommendation of this bipartisan commission. Instead, we see more of the same. The Current Administration consistently delays nuclear and space modernization programs. It chooses to doddle in12ed of actively confront a pair of dire truths. The United StatesNuclear Capabilities are falling behind. And the future of war will extend to space. Collaboration with congress and the white house could replace that inaction with progress. We can start reclaiming lost ground by following the recommendations of the Strategic Posture Commission. The unanimous recommendations of this bipartisan commission. We must accelerate the National SecurityNational NuclearSecurity Administration restoration by basic industrial capabilities. The current slow pace is out of touch with reality. Likewise we must make progress on the sentinal icbm and columbia submarine programs. They require sustained investment and innovation. But the benefit is worth the price tag and the elbow grease that it will require. The advances made by our adversaries demand vote defensive and offensive military solutions. I would like to hear from our witnesses about how this committee can help create a sense of urgency. When it comes to accelerating the modernization of our strategic arsenal and adapting our forces to the new threat environment. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chair reed thank you, senator wicker. General cotton, your comments, please. General cotton good morning, chairman reed, Ranking Member wicker, and distinguished members of this committee. It is an honor to be here today alongside general whiting. And a privilege to represent the Service Members and civilians of the United StatesStrategic Command. This is my second year appearing before you as a stratcom commander. And id like to thank this committee and congress for their support not only to National Defense but to my portfolio. I have submitted my statement for the record. The most Important Message i want to deliver today is that the forces under my command are ready to deter our adversaries and respond decisively should deter rents fail. No adversary should ever doubt our capability today. As a global war fighting command, stratcom sets missions across the gold as the ultimate guarantor of national alleyed security. Our forces and capabilities underpin and enable all other joint forces operations. We do this in the face of challenges unlike anything america has ever encountered. We are confronting not one but two nuclear peers. The Russian Federation and the peoples republic of china. This reality combined by missile developments in north korea, Irans Nuclear ambitions, and the growing relationships amongst those nations adds new layers of complexity to our strategic cal includes cal includes. It calculus. It raises possibilities of simultaneous conflict with multiple Nuclear Armed add adversaries. Projections indicate the p. R. C. s Nuclear Arsenal would encompass approximately 1,000 warheads by 2030. As russias unprovoked invasion of ukraine enters the third year, its reliance on Nuclear Forces increases as its conventional forces adrift. Beyond russias traditional strategic triad, it is expanding and modernizing Nuclear Options not covered by International Arms treaties. Last friday, president putin stated that 95 of russias strategic Nuclear Forces have been modernized. In short, our competitors are improving their position against the United States and its allies in multiple domains. Far exceeding the pace we have seen just a few years ago. While our legacy systems continue to hold potential adversaries at risk, it is absolutely critical we continue to at speed with the modernization of our Nuclear Triade. Including landbased icbms, the b21, the b52, the columbia class submarine, the nuclear sea launched cruise missile, and the nlrso. As well as numerous related systems. While also focusing on the nc3 enterprise with its upgrades and cybersecurity. I urge congress to continue supporting these critical National Security capabilities. Their associated infrastructure, and the sustainment of legacy systems during the phodendization period modernization period. Let me be clear, while modernization will continue to be the priority, stratcom force are ready to fight tonight. My components will always be ready to fight tonight. I thank you. And i look forward to your questions. Thank you. Chairman reed thank you. General whiting, please. General whiting chairman reed, rahm wicker, and members of the committee. Thank you for this opportunity to testify. Im pleased to joined by my long time friend general cotton. Im honored to represent the 18,000 professionals of the Space Command. Our people are the most valuable asset of National Space power. U. S. Space command working with allies and partners has a moral responsibility to the joint force, the nation, and our allies to provide Space Capabilities through all levels of conflict. Since desert storm, the joint force has become reliant on these systems. And force size according to the assumption of always having access to Space Capabilities. This is why u. S. Space command must protect and defend our Space Systems to ensure they are available in the face of the growing threats against us. Inherent in this responsibility is our ability to protect the joint force from spaceenabled attack. Our principle strategic competitors, the peoples republic of china antiRussian Federation, now hold at risk the United States and alleyed Space Capabilities because they know our joint force relies on space to fight the way we want. Precisely, lethally, effectively, and efficiently. To put it plainly, the p. R. C. s and russias actions have transformed space into a contested war fighting domain. Additionally, p. C. R. Military operations in particular have become increasingly enabled by space at all levels of warfare. And the Peoples Liberation army is improving their forces lethality and effective tphr es by leveraging Space Capabilities. As of jab, 2024 january, 2024, the p. R. C. More than tripled its presence since 2018. With the space and counter Space Systems they have dramatically increased their ability to monitor, track, and target u. S. And alleyed forces both terrestrially and orbit. Russia continues to develop, test, and demonstrate their Counter Space capabilities, despite not having achieved their war aims from their invasion of ukraine. This ongoing ground war has revealed military reliance on space and space enabled capabilities. To be sure, russias war in ukraine has established space as an indelible enabler of terrestrial warfare. Today u. S. Space command seeks to expand competitive advantage over p. P. R. C. And russia by leveraging every available asset, the rest of the joint force, allies, and partners, and u. S. Industry and academia. The United States remains the best military space power in the world,ent our current architecture is opt tim mizeed for a benign space environment. To ensure success in the space environment we now find ourselves in, it is vital that u. S. Space command is delivered improved capabilities and capacity. Fully tested and with Trained Personnel by 2027. While a conflict in space is not inevitable, it would certainly be devastating and disrupt our use of space for decades. So we must be ready if deterrence fails. Simply put, the p. R. C. Is moving breathtakingly fast in space. America must rapidly increase the timeliness, quality, and quantity of our Critical National space and Missile Defense systems to match chinas speed and maintain our advantage. With the u. S. Space force, as well as the army, air force, navy, and marines and other combatant kpwapbdz commands and agencies, we have known specifically, u. S. Space commands top five priority requirements that are key to delivering on our unified command plan responsibilities are, one, resilient and timely Operational Command and control. Two, integrated space fires and protection. Three, modernized agile Electronic Warfare architectures. Four, enhanced battle space awareness for space warfare. And five, Cyber Defense of Space Systems. Absent commitment to longterm investment in these integrated requirements, we risk seeding advantage to our principle strategic competitors in the space domain. With delivery of capability and capacity assured, u. S. Space command will attain the required, enduring advantage over any adversary determined to conduct war in outer space. Thus ensuring defense of our homeland, protection of the joint force, and our allies. I am grateful for congress support to u. S. Space command and investments to advance americas leadership in space. With your continued backing, the United StatesSpace Command will ensure space remains sustainable, safe, stable, and secure for all. Chairman, i have submitted my statement for the record. I look forward to questions. Chairman reed general cotton, what force structure changes you anticipate in order to maintain our deterrence n