US Space Command has published the Space Warfighting Environment 2040, a strategic framework designed to guide how American military forces prepare for and operate in an increasingly contested space domain over the next decade and a half. The document, released in late July, is intended to serve as a foundation for sustaining space superiority and sharpening the readiness and lethality of the Joint Force as rivals accelerate the development of capabilities designed to threaten US space assets★.
The strategy's defining characteristic, according to SPACECOM, is that it was deliberately constructed to be warfighter-first rather than technology-first. Rather than leading with platforms or systems, SWE 2040 centers on the operational demands placed on the personnel who must fight through degraded, contested conditions★.
Ground Segments and Cislunar Space as New Priorities
Among the most significant elements of the new framework is its explicit focus on the vulnerability of ground segments—the terrestrial infrastructure of antennas, control stations, and data links that satellites depend on to function. Treating ground-based attack vectors as a primary threat reflects a broader recognition that adversaries can degrade or destroy space capabilities without ever reaching orbit. The strategy also extends SPACECOM's operational planning horizon into cislunar space, the vast region between Earth and the Moon, acknowledging that future competition will not be confined to low or geostationary orbits★.
SWE 2040 also resets the baseline assumption for training and exercises. Rather than treating contested conditions—jammed communications links, degraded positioning and timing signals, fractured networks—as exceptional scenarios to be planned around, the strategy calls for treating them as the normal operating environment. Warfighters are expected to rehearse and develop proficiency in precisely those degraded conditions that adversaries are most likely to impose★.
The document is framed as a response to how competitors are mobilizing their own space capabilities and to the rapid pace of change in the domain. By anchoring the strategy in a 2040 horizon, SPACECOM signals that the threats it is preparing for are not purely near-term but represent a sustained trajectory requiring durable doctrinal change rather than tactical adjustment★. The framework is intended to inform Joint Force planning across domains, reinforcing space operations as an integrated component of broader military readiness rather than a specialized supporting function★.
★ AI inference: One or more analytical conclusions in this article were drawn by the AI from cited facts and are not directly stated in the cited sources.