Jeeze!
Talk of a solution in search of a problem.
The DOD already has this "problem" under control without throwing billions at a failing company a decade behind the times.
To clarify: the issue isn't about the vulnerability of a single satellite but rather the vulnerability of the system. And the answer isn't to further weaponize space but to reduce the military value of attacking the system. The answer already exists and has a name: STARSHIELD. Supplementing the existing space resources with an extra layer of attritable LEO satellites in a reinforcing constellation reduces the likelihood of an attack (a certified casus belli) because it reduces the value of destroying an asset that would be replaced in minutes by another orbiting asset. And if such an attack is unlikely to provide a useful return there is little value in even attempting it.
Even here, ULA is behind the times, thinking in terms of individual assets (single satellites or at most a couple dozen, like GPS) instead of swarms and constellations of hundreds if not thousands of smaller, cheaper, easily *replaceable* satellites.
As the old saying goes, quantity is a quality all its own and it is no accident that as STARLINK went live DOD promptly launched STARSHIELD.
en.m.wikipedia.org
One underappreciated feature of STARLINK (and doubtlessly of STARSHIELD)
is that among the swarm of orbiting satellites a significant fraction are dormant spares flying in formation ready to replace older units that fail, are de-orbitted, or damaged, ready to activate and replace them. Redundancy is better and cheaper than armor or (really?) orbiting drone warships.
Simple, elegant, and cheap. And about to get cheaper once STARSHIP is operational for cargo (sometime this year most likely) and once satellite production ramps up. At that point STARSHIELD won't be growing by 17 satellites at a time but by a hundred per launch. It already features a hundred or so. Reaching a thousand won't take long.
It's the 21st century out there but ULA apparently hasn't noticed.
And it looks like the attempt to sell off ULA as-is is going nowhere so they are floating "growth potential" paper products like a triple booster "VULCAN HEAVY" to double payload capacity from 27 to 60 Tons to compete with or more likely replace FALCON HEAVY, which only launches a couple times per year and not for much longer.
Desperate much?
At least ARIANE and China, inc have nationalistic pride and government funding to stay afloat but ULA can't count on government support much longer with BLUE ORIGIN and ROCKET LAB looking to squeeze out VULCAN in the post-FALCON era. And, not to be discounted if STARSHIP fully develops, DOD buying its own customized "fleet" of launchers. (To date, STARSHIP+STARBASE development costs are reported to be in the $3-5B range. A turnkey equivalent for DOD is unlikely to cost much more even including a handful of rockets.)
Not a good time to be ULA and lose their outed White House connection in the age of DOGE.
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