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Last month, the new U.S. Space Force, which has been forcing space for many years before it was called “Space Force,” received their first official offensive weapon, a satellite jammer known as the Counter Communications System Block 10.2. It’s basically a ground-based satellite communications jammer that will prevent enemies from communicating with their space-based resources, and likely also preventing them from getting Netflix.


There was a sort of ceremony and everything as control over this new version of the system was handed over from the Space and Missile Systems Center on Los Angeles Air Force Base to the 4th Space Control Squadron on Paterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

Look, they even handed over the huge, ornate key presumably used to turn the system on and off:

Photo : Airman 1st Class Andrew Bertain ( US AIR FORCE )


The U.S. Air Force originally deployed the system in 2004 as a response to similar systems fielded by other countries. The most recent update prior to this new 10.2 version was in 2014.

Of the transfer of the system to the Space Force, Lt. Col. Steve Brogan, materiel leader of the SMC Special Programs directorate, had this to say:

“IOC (Initial Operational Capability) signifies the start of CCS personnel and equipment support to USSPACECOM warfighting requirements for world-wide operations. Achieving IOC for this upgrade puts the ‘force’ in Space Force and is critical to Space as a warfighting domain.”

So, there you go. Space Force now officially has a space gun, of sorts, even if it is just an update of the same sort of weapon that’s been in use for this same sort of function for over 16 years.