This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
The U.S. military’s Space Force launched its first-ever unit in Japan, which a senior member said is designed to enhance the alliance’s defense and deterrence amid threats from China, Russia and North Korea.
China, Russia, and possibly North Korea have been advancing methods to destroy or disable satellites, including attacks, collisions, and interference, media reports suggest. China, in particular, is rapidly increasing the number of satellite launches to aid its missions on Earth, while Russia may be developing a nuclear weapon to destroy satellites and create debris fields.
Launched on Wednesday, U.S. Space Forces Japan – a unit similar to the one established at South Korea’s Osan Air Base in 2022 – will operate out of Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo with a staff of about 10 and be subordinate to U.S. Force Japan, Stars and Stripes, a daily American military newspaper, reported.
Brigadier General Anthony Mastalir, head of the Hawaii-based U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific, said the new unit’s activation marked “a pivotal moment in space operations within the Indo-Pacific region.”
“Space is becoming increasingly congested, contested and critical to national security,” said Mastalir, citing “persistent threats like North Korea and Russia.”
Mastalir said China “continues to engage in illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive tactics that threaten the stability of the Indo-Pacific region,” while it was using its satellites to “find, fix, track and target” terrestrial U.S. and allied assets.
“What we have seen over the last five to ten years is increased investment in China regarding military space capabilities,” Mastalir added.
U.S. Space Forces Japan’s day-to-day duties will include coordinating with its Japanese peer, the Air Self-Defense Force, while keeping an eye on North Korea, which has repeatedly test-fired missiles, and China as it steps up its activity in space.
Created in December 2019 under the administration of President Donald Trump, the Space Force has more than 14,000 personnel. Its missions include tracking threats to the U.S. homeland and safeguarding American satellites.
China, Russia and North Korea had not commented by the time of this publication.
But China’s state-run tabloid Global Times said the new unit cemented the role of the US as a “menace” in the Asia-Pacific region, accusing it of exercising control over Japan, including “unwarranted influence over Japan’s economic and foreign policies.”
“Japan in particular, is depicted by Washington as being on the forefront of America’s own growing confrontation with China. In reality, Japan is given little choice,” said the newspaper, calling the unit “more administrative than an advancement in US space-based capabilities themselves.”
“The U.S. is expanding its Space Force components simply to facilitate operations of America’s military spread across the planet, not to expand its actual capabilities in space,” it added.
The launch of the unit comes as the U.S. is working on an initiative called “Tactically Responsive Space” aimed at enabling a commander to swiftly integrate and deploy space-based capabilities to respond to urgent threats.
In February, the White House confirmed that Russia had acquired a “troubling” emerging antisatellite weapon, following a statement by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, who warned that a Russian space-based nuclear weapon posed a significant national security threat.
In October, General B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, told POLITICO that China’s rapid advancements in space-based military systems are more concerning than the potential presence of Russian nuclear weapons in space.
North Korea, which successfully launched its first spy satellite in November 2023, announced plans to deploy multiple additional spy satellites into Earth’s orbit by the end of this year, aiming to establish itself as a “space power” despite its nuclear-armed status.
But in May, a bid to launch its second spy satellite failed when the rocket carrying it exploded soon after launch.
