U.S. Space Command repositioned a satellite to inspect a British satellite for the first-ever coordinated satellite maneuver, the military said.
The historic milestone comes shortly after President Donald Trump announced that Space Command would be moved from Colorado to Alabama.
In a statement, Space Command said the satellite move demonstrated “our alliance’s readiness to conduct dynamic, responsible, and integrated space operations at a time and place of our choosing.”
Gen. Stephen Whiting, the head of Space Command, said the maneuver “represents the warfighting advantage” of employing teamwork.
“The success of this multidomain operation represents the warfighting advantage realized by employing our capabilities and expertise as one unified team,” he said.
“Though our opponents may attempt to replicate the value of such cooperation, our partnerships are uniquely defined by not only the mutual goal of deterring aggression, but a shared pledge to fight and win shoulder-to-shoulder, if necessary,” he added.
The “Rendezvous Proximity Operation” occurred under Multinational Force — Operation Olympic Defender. It’s unclear why the satellite needed to be inspected, but the release said it was needed to “assure our ally of its nominal operation in orbit.”
The commander of U.K. Space Command, Maj. Gen. Paul Tedman, echoed much of Whiting’s sentiment.
“This operation was a first of its kind for U.K. Space Command and represents a significant increase in operational capability,” Tedman said.
“Expertly executed with U.S. Space Command, I could not be more pleased or proud of the rapid progress we are making with our allies in Multinational Force — Operation OLYMPIC DEFENDER. We are now, with our allies, conducting advanced orbital operations to protect and defend our shared national and military interests in space,” he added.
Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, commander of the U.S. Space Forces — Space, said the operation “delivers a credible deterrent in the increasingly contested space domain.”
There’s concern that the move from Colorado to Alabama will only hurt Space Command’s readiness.
“Moving Space Command would not result in any additional operational capabilities than what we have up and running in Colorado Springs now,” Colorado lawmakers said in a joint statement. “Colorado Springs is the appropriate home for U.S. Space Command, and we will take the necessary action to keep it there.”
When speaking about the move, Trump said Colorado’s use of mail-in voting was a concern.
“When a state is for mail-in voting, that means they want dishonest elections because that’s what that means. So that played a big factor also,” he said.
The move from Colorado to Alabama could hurt Space Command’s readiness in an environment where China and Russia are fiercely competing with the United States in space. Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, recently showed concern that America’s ability to track threats in space was insufficient.
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“We cannot be satisfied if it takes us hours to detect on-orbit activity, and we definitely cannot be satisfied if full characterization of on-orbit events takes weeks and months,” he said. “The longer it takes to update the catalog, the more problematic the issue, the less domain awareness we have.”
A lack of sufficient satellite detection systems could leave them vulnerable to anti-satellite systems that China and Russia have already deployed.