A recent White House executive order, titled “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” has placed renewed emphasis on counterspace operations and the strategic role of the U.S. Space Force in defending national interests in orbit and beyond.

The directive, issued by the president, outlines a comprehensive space policy that integrates exploration goals with national security priorities, including the development of capabilities to detect, characterise and counter threats to United States space assets.

This shift highlights the increasingly central role of counterspace missions within broader defence and space strategy frameworks.

The executive order directs federal departments and agencies to enhance space security through improved threat awareness and responsive defence architectures.

Measures include accelerating acquisition reforms, strengthening partnerships with allies, and expanding cooperation with commercial space providers to create a more resilient and adaptive national security space posture.

The order also emphasises securing American capabilities “in, from, and to space,” underscoring the interconnected nature of space operations and terrestrial defence.

Counterspace activities span a range of defensive and offensive measures designed to ensure freedom of operation in space while deterring or mitigating hostile actions, such as interference with satellites or attacks on space infrastructure.

The Space Force’s evolving warfighting doctrine, articulated earlier this year, envisages space superiority as a core mission, encompassing both defensive measures and responsible offensive options to protect U.S. and allied space capabilities.

Space control, as defined by military planners, includes counterspace operations across orbital warfare, electromagnetic and cyber domains to maintain operational advantage and deny adversaries effective use of space.

Although existing international treaties, such as the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, commit signatories to peaceful use of space, U.S. policy recognises the need to guard against the rapid development of counterspace threats by potential adversaries.

Nations like China and Russia are advancing technologies capable of denying or disrupting access to space through kinetic and non-kinetic means, prompting U.S. strategic emphasis on resilience, detection and retaliation options.

Under the new directive, the Space Force’s counterspace mission is poised to become an integral element of national defence strategy as the United States seeks to maintain space superiority and protect critical infrastructure that underpins global communications, navigation and security operations.