United States regards space as theatre of war – President Putin

December 5, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “The comment comes as leaders of NATO approved the decision to recognise space as ‘potential theatre for operations’ at a summit that is currently taking place in London.

The military and political apparatus of the United States views space as a theatre of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting dedicated to the development of the Russian Navy on Wednesday.

‘Russia has always been and will remain opposed to the military use of space,’ Putin said. ‘Leading nations of the world are actively developing modern space systems for military use…and the United States, in particular, is openly regarding space as a war theatre.’ The Russian president added that the US is planning to conduct military operations in space to maintain its strategic superiority in this domain.

According to Putin, the current situation requires Russia to pay increased attention to strengthening the orbital group, as well as space and rocket industry in general.

He noted that the capabilities of Russia’s missile attack warning system had significantly grown, adding that the system promptly detected launches of ballistic missiles…” (“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” – Luke 21:25 – 27. See the next five reports.)

Challenged by China and Russia, US builds force for future space wars

December 23, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “The United States met a mounting 21st century strategic challenge from Russia and China Friday with the creation of a full-fledged US Space Force within the Department of Defense.

Acting on an ambition by President Donald Trump that had met resistance at first, the White House signaled its determination to not cede superiority in a Star Wars-like future of killer satellites and satellite-killer weapons.

Trump made the Space Force’s creation real with the signing of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which set the initial budget for a Pentagon force that will stand equally with the military’s five other branches.

‘Going to be a lot of things happening in space, because space is the world’s newest warfighting domain,’ Trump told members of the military gathered for the signing…”

Beijing attacks US for ‘weaponisation’ of outer space

December 25, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “Beijing warned Monday that the US was turning the cosmos into a ‘battlefield’, after Washington announced a new military arm called the Space Force.

Following concerns that China and Russia are challenging its position in space, US President Donald Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act on Friday — which created a new branch of the US military.

Beijing responded by accusing the US of ‘pursuing the weaponisation of outer space’.

‘These actions from the US strongly violate the international consensus of the peaceful use of outer space…. posing a direct threat to outer space, peace, and security,’ said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a regular press briefing.

Geng called for the international community to ‘adopt a prudent and responsible attitude to prevent outer space from becoming a new battlefield’.

The Space Force will be the sixth formal force of the US military, after the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard…”

U.S. Space Policy: The United States Space Force

December 16, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “The Trump Administration and United States Congress are currently in discussions regarding a proposal to create and fund a service branch within the U.S. Air Force that would assist in deterring conflict in space.

The Trump Administration and United States Congress are currently in discussions regarding a proposal to create and fund a service branch within the U.S. Air Force that would assist in deterring conflict in space. Called the United States Space Force, the branch would be part of the U.S. Air Force much the way the Marine Corps are part of the U.S. Navy.

Over time, the Space Force would evolve to become a stand-alone branch of the armed services. Scott Pace is Executive Secretary of the National Space Council. He explained why space is now considered what the Pentagon calls a ‘war-fighting domain’:

‘Some people say: are we going to militarize space? And the answer is space has really been a military domain since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. They used, actually, a converted ICBM to do it. So space has been a realm of military activity really since the very beginning. It’s been used for reconnaissance.

It’s been used for communications. It’s used for navigation. … What space has not been, has been a war-fighting domain. And, what’s become different in the last few years, ever since the 2007 anti-satellite test that China conducted, where they destroyed one of their own weather satellites, we’ve seen a rapid and steady growth in anti-satellite weapons by Russia and China…”

Allies join Space Force for multinational collaboration

December 30, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “Allies are in the early stages of collaboration with the newly created U.S. Space Force, which has hosted its first ‘five eyes’ level briefing and authorized its first collaborative task order, the Air Force said Friday.

According to an announcement by the U.S. Air Force, Group Captain Darren Whiteley, a Royal Air Force officer from Britain and the deputy director of the Combined Space Operations Center, recently signed the first combined tasking order for Space Force command units.

‘Allied partnerships are critical to defending our assets at home and in the space domain,’ Whiteley said. ‘The threat is expanding and international collaboration is essential to strengthen deterrence against hostile actors. Through these partnerships we are able to expand the depth and multiply the effects we can have to those evolving threats.’

The task order is the first by a coalition partner under Operation Olympic Defender, a multinational effort intended to optimize space operations and share information between allies…”

China improves space-based observation of Earth

December 12, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “China has greatly improved its ability to observe the Earth from space with a series of high-resolution remote sensing satellites sent into orbit over the past nine years, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The satellites, belonging to China’s high-resolution Earth observation project (Gaofen project) initiated in 2010, have formed a stable satellite remote sensing system, said Tong Xudong, chief designer of the project.

The project has increased the resolution of China’s low-earth orbit remote sensing satellites from 2.1 meters to 0.65 meter, and the resolution of China’s geostationary orbit remote sensing satellites improved from kilometer-level to 50 meters, Tong said.

The satellites, covering different observation bands, are deployed in different orbits, giving China a preliminary ability for all-weather and round-the-clock observation, said Tong…”