US military chief Dunford: China is main threat to security

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington on September 26, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Aaron P Bernstein

 

The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff set out new US military strategies and policies toward China and Asia in a senate hearing

China was identified this week as posing the most significant long-term military challenge to the United States by America’s senior-most military leader, as he set out new US military strategies and policies toward China and Asia more generally in a congressional hearing.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, also revealed in the hearing, before senate, that he had informed China last summer of US plans to use military force against North Korea.

China Space Plan to Develop “Strength and Size”

In this image taken and made from CCTV, Chinese astronaut Wang Yaping, seen on screen, listens to a question from a school girl in Beijing, China, during a live broadcast from onboard the Tiangong 1 space station, June 20, 2013.

 

China wants to develop “strength and size” in its space program, a China National Space Administration official said last week. In the next five years, the country plans to speed up the development of its space program. China wants to become the first country to carry out a controlled landing of a probe on the far side of the moon in 2018. China also has plans to launch its first probe to the planet Mars by 2020.

China released an official policy proposal, known as a white paper. The document provides details of China’s plans for space exploration for the next five years. It was released by the State Council Information Office last Tuesday.

“To explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build China into a space power is a dream we pursue unremittingly,” the white paper said. China says it will use space for peaceful purposes, to guarantee national security and to carry out new scientific research according to the paper.

Space Warfare: No Longer Just Science Fiction

Caption: (iStock.com/Andrey Prokhorov)

 

What was once restricted to the realm of fiction and fantasy is now reality, and the U.S. is already losing.

In the last few decades, the idea of space warfare has evolved dramatically. Once perceived only in the fantasy realm of tie fighters and X-wings, war in outer space is now reality. In a technological age, satellites and military installations in orbit are taking on a pivotal role in geopolitics.

The realm formerly dominated by the United States is under threat. With each satellite launch by foreign powers, gaping holes form in America’s defenses. Space is being opened up to a number of powerful nations eager to exploit the heavens for their own military advantage. Invisible battlegrounds are forming in the night sky.

General: China Space Threat Drives U.S. Space Warfare Buildup

‘I’m not NASA,’ space commander says (UPDATED)

China’s growing space warfare capabilities are prompting the Air Force to develop military space weapons to protect U.S. satellites and shoot down enemy systems, the commander of the Air Force Space Command said in an interview that aired on Sunday.

“It’s a competition I wish wasn’t occurring, but it is,” Air Force Gen. John Hyten, the space commander, told CBS News.

“And if we’re threatened in space, we have the right of self defense and we’ll make sure we can execute that right.”

Asked if those defenses will involve military force, Hyten states: “That’s why we have a military … I’m not NASA.”

Hyten said some U.S. military satellites can maneuver to avoid attack but older ones cannot. “It depends on the satellite … when it was built … how old it is … when we know the threat is coming.”