US National Reconnaissance Office to Quadruple Reconnaissance Satellites in Next Decade... Caution on China and Russia

"Will Expand to Hundreds of Orbital Satellites"
"China to Become Major Competitor in US Space Industry"

The United States National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) announced plans to increase the number of reconnaissance satellites more than fourfold within the next decade and to expand the amount of collected intelligence by more than ten times. Amid global controversy over the recent leak of classified documents affecting U.S. intelligence capabilities, the agency appears to be aiming to enhance SIGINT (signals intelligence) capabilities such as communications interception and radio wave collection through reconnaissance satellites, which have faced relatively less controversy. At the same time, it expressed strong vigilance by mentioning China and Russia's satellite interception weapons.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

According to CNN on the 19th (local time), Chris Scolese, director of the NRO, stated in a speech at the annual Space Foundation Symposium held in Colorado the previous day, "We will increase the number of satellites in orbit by four times within the next ten years," adding, "By combining government and commercial satellites to build a network, we will be able to collect ten times more information than now." He emphasized, "Currently, there are dozens of satellites orbiting in 2023, but this number will expand significantly to hundreds within the next few years."

Director Scolese explained, "We will launch a space situational awareness system in cooperation with the Space Force," and added, "The NRO and the Space Force are working hand in hand to implement the future 'Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI),' which will provide warfighters with day and night, all-weather detection and tracking of ground and maritime targets." The plan is to expand the current enemy detection and tracking missions conducted via aircraft to reconnaissance satellites, with a budget of one billion dollars allocated by 2028.

The announcement to strengthen SIGINT through reconnaissance satellites is analyzed to be closely related to the recent issue of leaked classified documents. On the 7th, classified documents spread through social networking services (SNS) such as Discord revealed that the U.S. had intercepted not only adversary countries but also allied leaders, causing significant embarrassment for the U.S. government.

Director Scolese also mentioned vigilance regarding satellite interception weapons being developed by China and Russia. He warned, "Our competitors are developing weapons that destroy or disrupt satellites on the ground and in space," and added, "In particular, China's commercial space sector will emerge as a major competitor to the U.S. and allied space industries by 2030."