Space race

To Korea (for now) and beyond

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR has his first deployment: That is, the U.S. Space Force has opened its first overseas base. (We eagerly await the day—perhaps within the span of a generation or two—when the wire services report the opening of a USSF outpost on Europa, maybe even Titan.)

For now, we’ll settle for South Korea. The American military has activated U.S. Space Forces Korea at Osan Air Base near Seoul, the Associated Press reports. The base activation comes on the heels of North Korea’s test-firing a barrage of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. Missiles designed to strike the U.S. mainland and presumably send shock waves of fear throughout war rooms from D.C. to Tokyo.

The new chief at USSF Korea, Lt. Col. Joshua McCullion, said the base will serve as fortification against the government operating above the 38th Parallel. Its location should afford it the chance to also keep tabs on the ChiComs and the Soviets, er, “Russians.”

The base essentially is a field unit of the larger U.S. Space Force unit established within the Indo-Pacific command in Hawaii.

Launched in 2019, the Space Force has been viewed as affirmation of the need to more effectively organize the defense of U.S. interests in space, the AP says. Lots of satellites up there, commercial and otherwise—and many of them are used for civilian and military navigation, intelligence and communication.

And the Pentagon has acknowledged that both the Red Chinese and Russians are developing tech designed to disrupt or destroy American satellites.

The Korean base’s initial priorities will include “missile warning operations, which provides in-theater near-realtime detection and warning of ballistic missile launches,” USSF officials said. The officer commanding the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, Gen. Paul LaCamera, said the U.S. military is “faster, better connected, more informed, precise and lethal because of space.”

Let’s hope it stays that way. Because where the Space Force is concerned, we’re eager to start scouting real estate on Europa.