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The United States Space Force is partnering with Rocket Lab and True Anomaly for a mission aimed at demonstrating how the military might counter “on-orbit aggression.”In a demo that will happen no later than fall 2025, a Rocket Lab spacecraft will chase a satellite from True Anomaly, according to Ars Technica, which says this will be the first military exercise in orbit. The goal with the exercise, dubbed Victus Haze, is to create a “realistic threat response scenario,” Space Force says.One such threat is China, says Col. Bryon McClain, Space Systems Command program executive officer for Space Domain Awareness and Combat Power.”We recognize the significant opportunity to leverage the commercial space industry’s innovations to counter China as America’s pacing threat,” Col. McClain says. “The United States has the most innovative space industry in the world. Victus Haze will demonstrate, under operationally realistic conditions, our ability to respond to irresponsible behavior on orbit.”The test will cost $60 million; $30 million will come from the government and the other half will come from True Anomaly “internal private capital,” Space Force says.Once a launch date is set, True Anomaly will launch from either Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida or Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Rocket Lab will launch from either Mahia, New Zealand, or Wallops Island, Virginia.”This demonstration will ultimately prepare the United States Space Force to provide future forces to Combatant Commands to conduct rapid operations in response to adversary on-orbit aggression,” Space Force says.
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Space Force was established by former President Trump in 2019 as a new branch of the military designed specifically to handle threats in space. It embarked on its first mission in 2020, carrying a USSF communications satellite into space.The agency has the authority to “organize, train, and equip military space forces … to ensure unfettered access to, and freedom to operate in space, and to provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces in peacetime and across the spectrum of conflict.”
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