As the space race intensifies, former US Air Force major Even "Jolly" Rogers is concerned about a possible space conflict. He argues that conflict occurs on a continuum that begins with rivalry and eventually evolves to full-fledged conflicts, like what happened in Ukraine.
The US is in active rivalry with China and Russia for freedom of action and domination of the space domain, which is evolving at a breakneck pace. On January 26, 2022, Rogers established True Anomaly, Inc. He said in a tweet that it aims to address orbital warfare challenges that US Space Force might face.
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Jackals: Hunter Satellites To Target Suspicious Spacecraft
True Anomaly is preparing for its first orbital flight as stated in a recent filing with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The space combat startup wants to send two Jackal "orbital pursuit" spacecraft into low earth orbit aboard a SpaceX rocket in October.
According to Wired, the Jackals will not be armed with guns, warheads, or laser blasters, but they will be capable of rendezvous proximity operations (RPO), or maneuvering near other satellites and training a battery of sensors on them. This might disclose their adversaries' surveillance and weapon systems, or it could assist in intercepting conversations.
The first mission is called the Demo-1 in which the Jackals' mission is to spy on each other using radar, multi-spectral cameras, and thrusters to approach within a hundred miles.
Rogers believes that the success of the mission will determine the future as he envisages deploying thousands of autonomous spacecraft for the US military that will be controlled by both AI and humans to pursue adversaries and provide an instrument for accountability.
Understanding what technology America's opponents are deploying in space is the first step in developing these tools. Rogers, the CEO of True Anomaly, emphasized that active defense is necessary when taking the job of defense and protection seriously.
It is a requirement to have the ability to do the joint functions of maneuver and fires, which pertains to jamming, electronic warfare, and cyberattacks in the space context. Although, True Anomaly's website makes no mention of the company creating its own offensive weaponry.
Will Jackal Cause More Conflict?
Rogers tweeted last summer that tactically disabling hostile spacecraft could be the difference in preventing the destruction of an entire Carrier Strike Group or its survival. More so, there are many ways to disable a spacecraft that will not negatively affect the environment.
But even though he is saying that Jackals is designed to adapt to already hostile global and orbital politics, some experts are concerned that the presence or existence of Rogers' RPO could be an escalating factor.
Kaitlyn Johnson, Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic & International Studies deputy director, said in an interview with Wired that True Anomaly seems to be presenting its satellite as more of a pursuit system than an imaging or intelligence gathering system, which is concerning given that it might cause an unintentional escalation as their adversaries might see it as a military-directed company.
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