*Washington: *
The United States met a mounting 21st century strategic challenge fromRussia and China Friday with the creation of a full-fledged US Space Forcewithin the Department of Defense.
Acting on an ambition by President Donald Trump that had met resistance atfirst, the White House signaled its determination to not cede superiorityin a Star Wars-like future of killer satellites and satellite-killerweapons.
Trump made the Space Force’s creation real with the signing of the 2020National Defense Authorization Act, which set the initial budget for aPentagon force that will stand equally with the military’s five otherbranches.
“Going to be a lot of things happening in space, because space is theworld’s newest warfighting domain,” Trump told members of the militarygathered for the signing.
Seeking Dominance
The Space Force will be the sixth formal force of the US military, afterthe Army, Air Force, Navy Marines, and Coast Guard.
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“Our reliance on space-based capabilities has grown dramatically, and todayouter space has evolved into a war-fighting domain of its own,” saidSecretary of Defense Mark Esper.
“Maintaining American dominance in that domain is now the mission of theUnited States Space Force.”
Esper compared the Space Force’s creation to the landmark creation of aseparate US Air Force in 1947, hived off from the Army after World War IIin recognition that aerial war fighting was indeed a separate domain thatwould be important in the future.
Now that recognition is extended to space, a crucial venue for bothmilitary spy and communications satellites which will be targeted byadversaries in any conflict, and the possibility of outer-space launchplatforms for destructive weapons.
The Defense Intelligence Agency warned in a report early this year thatChina and Russia have both developed “robust and capable” space servicesfor intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. -APP/AFP
