The establishment of Defence Space Command was first announced in May last year, with Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts, AM, CSC, assuming her role as head of the division in January.

The division includes personnel from all three services, as well as public servants, and industry contractors.

Defence Space Command is expected to work alongside the Australian Space Agency, industry partners, and research and scientific institutions.

Among the responsibilities of Space Command will be supporting space domain awareness, sovereign controlled satellite communications and space-based Earth observation, and navigation.

In his address, Minister Dutton added that monitoring hypersonic threats would also form a key part of the division’s mission, pointing to the recent ramp up in hypersonic missile activity from China and Russia.

The minister described the creation of the Space Command as a "necessary endeavour” for the protection of Australia’s interests.

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"Both Russia and China are already developing hypersonic missiles which can travel at more than 6,000 kilometres per hour," he said. 

"Together with like-minded partners and the United Nations, Australia has long championed the responsible and peaceful use of outer space in accordance with international norms."

Minister Dutton also outlined initiatives to bolster space collaboration with the US as part of a newly released Defence Space Strategy.

This involves teaming up with the US National Reconnaissance Office to ramp up co-operative satellite activities.

“Our partnership will also contribute to the US National Reconnaissance Office’s pursuit of a more capable, integrated, and resilient space architecture to support global coverage in a wide range of intelligence mission requirements,” the minister added.

The launch of Defence Space Command forms part of the Commonwealth government’s broader $7 billion investment in space capabilities over the next 10 years.

[Related: Government announces $244m RAAF base upgrade]

Charbel Kadib

Author

News Editor – Defence and Security, Momentum Media

Prior to joining the defence and aerospace team in 2020, Charbel was news editor of The Adviser and Mortgage Business, where he covered developments in the banking and financial services sector for three years. Charbel has a keen interest in geopolitics and international relations, graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a double major in politics and journalism. Charbel has also completed internships with The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts and public relations agency Fifty Acres.

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