The US Space Force has launched a new space intelligence unit as competition heats up in space and nations take action to protect their orbiting interests.
The unit, called Space Delta 18 or the National Space Intelligence Centre (NSIC), was officially launched late last month with a mission to "deliver unparalleled technical expertise and game-changing intelligence ... to outwit, outreach and win in the space domain".
The new unit is tasked with monitoring and identifying threats to US space assets in orbit, those either causing physical damage or operational disruption, after the US military defined outer space as an "operational frontier" while becoming increasingly alert to any development of anti-satellite capabilities by China and Russia.
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"America is always watching the whole world. But it will not affect China's development of anti-satellite capabilities," Beijing-based military expert Zhou Chenming said.
The name Space Delta 18 reflects the Space Force's place as the 18th member of the US intelligence community.
The new unit will have nearly 350 civilian and military personnel, and will work alongside other US intelligence agencies to provide "critical intelligence on threat systems, foreign intentions and activities in the space domain", according to Space Operations Command.
"And as we move forward, the NSIC will be relied upon to produce and analyse scientific and technical intelligence related to space for the entire nation," Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, said at the establishment ceremony on June 24.
"As the Service Intelligence Centre for the US Space Force, the NSIC will be well positioned to support US and allied space decision makers at an absolutely critical moment in the history of space development."
Space Delta 18 is not the first US military space intelligence agency. Before the US Space Force was established in 2019, the US Air Force ran the National Air and Space Intelligence Centre (NASIC) from 1993, with overlapping missions to "discover and characterise air, space, missile and cyber threats".
The new NSIC is transformed from two previous NASIC units, Space Analysis Squadron and Counterspace Analysis Squadron within the space and missiles analysis group. Delta 18 is headquartered and co-located within NASIC at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.