Establishment of Space Force Component Command at USFK | Seoul Newspaper

A unit under the Command of the Space Force will be created in the USFK. The completion of the formation of the unit will be the second instance of the creation of a space force organization outside the US mainland. It is interpreted as an intention to check China as well as monitor North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The United States Space Command, established independently of the Air Force in December 2019, operates a missile warning system, space surveillance network, military satellite control network, global positioning system (GPS), etc. to detect defenses missiles and response to space debris and meteorites..

According to the military on the 27th, the US Indo-Pacific Command announced on the 23rd that it intends to establish a plan to establish a Space Force Component Command within this year for the US Central Command under the Indo- United States Pacific and the United States. Korean Forces. In a statement on its website, the Intae Command explained, “The establishment of the Space Force Component Command at the Intae Command is a blueprint to provide Air Force Command capabilities to other combatant commands.” Lieutenant General Chance Saltzman, appointed chief of space operations at the Human Resources Command, said, “It’s an important step in organizing the Space Force Command into a combined force.

In strategic documents such as the recently published National Security Strategy (NSS), the United States promotes a plan to place space forces not only in the Human Resources Command but also in the Combat Command to realize integrated deterrence in all field Among the regional integrated combat commands operated by the United States, the fact that the Space Force was placed first in the Intae Command suggests that the United States is aware of China and North Korea. Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the Korea Defense Security Forum, interpreted it as “evidence that the United States is very concerned about the development of North Korea’s Hwasong-type ICBM technology.”

The US Space Force in Korea is expected to take on the role of sharing information about North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles, including ICBMs, in real time by linking the US Space Force and the Indian Space Force Component Command through the Tactical Command Information System (C4I) system. There are also observations that if the size of the USFK Space Force organization expands in the future and the laser interception system is equipped, it will naturally have no choice but to connect with the missile defense (MD) system. Considering that the size of the organization is that the United States Space Force in Korea is a newly established organization and that the recently created Space Force Component Command Intaeu has about 20 people, it seems that it will start with a size of less than that.

Meanwhile, the 509th Bomb Squadron at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, USA, posted a video on Facebook of nuclear-capable B2 strategic bombers conducting a sortie training exercise at the same time called “Elephant Walk, ” warns North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. . send a message “Through this routine exercise, our Air Force is ready to conduct nuclear operations and Earthspheric strikes anytime, anywhere,” the wing said. In March 2013, just after North Korea conducted its third nuclear test, two B2s left Whiteman Base and flew 10,500km while refueling in the air, flying to a shooting range in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, to practice bombing.

Reporter Kang Guk-jin