The U.S. Space Force wants some satellites to be able to fly longer in space by 2028, a top commander said.

Lt. Gen. John Shaw, the Space Force’s deputy commander, said satellites with short lifespans and fixed fuel tanks constrain the Space Force’s ability to “do a lot of what it wants to do.”

At a Mitchell Institute event on Thursday, Shaw said the US has been conducting “positional space operations” since the dawn of the space age, meaning that once a satellite is launched into orbit, it stays there.

But “we’re starting to realize that it’s not enough anymore,” he says.

This concept of “dynamic space operations” could represent “the most radical doctrinal shift” in U.S. space operations in the next four to five years, Shaw said.

Commercial satellites and national security systems such as missile warnings and satellite communications are likely to remain stationary in orbit, Shaw said. And they will probably have to spend most of their lives not staying in orbit, or at least changing the energy state of their maneuvers at a much greater rate than we do today. ”

He said the Space Force aims to have a “sustainable space maneuver” demonstration by 2026 and an operational platform by 2028.

According to Shaw, one program that requires maneuverability is the Space Force’s space surveillance satellites, called GSSAP (Geo-Stationary Space Situational Awareness Program).

With GSSAP’s current fuel capabilities, the Space Force’s ability to respond to threats and atrocities is “limited,” he said.

“If you see a satellite [acting] Doubtful, but far enough away from the GSSAP platform. Given the limited fuel budget, it would take some time to get there, and it may have been decided that it would never be possible to get there because it would not fit within the lifetime of how to fly the satellites. profile,” Shaw said.

Shaw Command has instructions from the Space Force on how long GSSAP satellites should last, which could constrain the types of missions they conduct, he said.

“We can’t have such constraints in the future. So what we are trying to clarify is the requirements for the Space Force [that] The kind of platform that we think needs to be dynamic, not positional, needs to be capable of sustained spatial maneuvers,” Shaw said.

He said he believes there are two possible solutions to the problem: refueling and commercialization.

“If we could refuel the GSSAP satellites once a month, we would be operating the satellites in a completely different way than they are today,” he said.

And on the commoditization side, increasing the number of satellites available for missions could address the command’s need for satellites that can be maneuvered for extended periods of time.

“If you can maintain mobility, you can now move freely. That complicates targetability for the adversary and complicates a lot of things for the adversary,” Shaw said.