Trump signs ‘Space Force’ directive

President Donald Trump signed an order Tuesday outlining his vision for a new “Space Force” that could one day become a separate military branch on an equal footing to the Army and Navy.

Trump wants to create a space force to protect satellites, tackle vulnerabilities in space and assert US dominance in orbit.

Is China Building Space Weapons To Attack US Satellites?

 

Here’s something that could really put a damper on US-China trade talks.

Two weeks after DNI Dan Coats warned about US adversaries expanding “their use of space-based reconnaissance, communications and navigations systems,” Bloomberg reported that China’s recent development of “sophisticated” capabilities for “satellite inspection and repair” and “space debris cleanup” might actually be a ruse for something far more nefarious.

Several EU Member States considering creation of EU Space Forces

 

A number of EU member states are discussing the possibility of creating European space forces, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry and Entrepreneurship, Elzbieta Bienkowska, who is also in charge for EU space policy, said.

Trump to Rapidly Expand U.S. Missile Defenses

 

Expanded missile threats from China, Russia spur policy shift

President Trump announced a major shift in U.S. defense strategy on Thursday, ordering the Pentagon to rapidly expand current missile defenses and build new interceptors, space sensors, and advanced technology to neutralize foreign missiles at multiple stages of attack.

The president announced during a speech at the Pentagon that missile defenses, currently limited to countering North Korean long-range missiles and future Iranian missiles, will no longer be constrained to rogue states.

US Powerless Against Hypersonic Missile Attack From China And Russia, New Report Warns

 

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned that the current ballistic missile defense system in the US is powerless against hypersonic missiles from China and Russia.

The missile’s speed, altitude, and maneuverability could defeat all networked sensors (including space-based) and ground- and sea-based radars; ground- and sea-based interceptor missiles; and render the Pentagon’s command, control, battle management ineffective in a hypersonic missile attack.

Trump administration launches Space Force to prepare for ‘next battlefield’

US Vice-President Mike Pence speaks about the creation of a new branch of the military, Space Force. Photo: AFP/Saul Loeb

 

‘It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space – we must have American dominance in space’

After some questions as to whether the Pentagon was dragging its heels on the initiative, US Vice-President Mike Pence has officially announced the establishment of a Space Force, which would be the sixth branch of the US military.

Space Wars: Russia Reveals New Russian Anti-Satellite Warfare Plane

 

During a press conference last month, President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to “immediately” establish a “space force” as an independent service branch. As we have highlighted before, the Pentagon is preparing for decades of hybrid wars across multiple domains – space, cyberspace, air, land, maritime – against Russia and China in the 2025-2040 timeframe.

According to an unnamed Russian defense industry source, as quoted by Sputnik News, Russia is developing a new electronic warfare aircraft, which can degrade the effectiveness of American spy satellites or render them entirely useless by using advanced radar jamming technology mounted on the exterior of the plane.

China, Russia’s Sophisticated Anti-Satellite Capabilities Alarms US

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Russia and China have developed increasingly sophisticated space countermeasure weapons to destroy US satellites, according to a new report.

Evidence “strongly indicates” that “China has sustained a broad effort to develop a broad range of counter-space capabilities,” the US-based Secure World Foundation said in its April 2018 report.