The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, said at the Air, Space and Cyber conference in National Harbor, Maryland, that the American military needs to prepare for combat operations not only in near-Earth orbit, but also around the Moon. The statement came just days after the U.S. first announced the deployment of space weapons into orbit.
Caine said that the American military needs to prepare for combat operations not only in near-Earth orbit, but also around the Moon. He was speaking at the Air, Space and Cyber conference in National Harbor, Maryland. The statement came just days after the U.S. first announced the deployment of space weapons into orbit.
Lieutenant General Gregory Guillot, who heads the U.S. Space Force Combat Command, explained such preparations by the actions of “potential adversaries”, above all China. The U.S. Space Force is a new branch of the armed forces, created in 2019 during Donald Trump's first presidential term. According to Guillot, over the next five years the Space Force is planned to grow to about 25,000 personnel, effectively doubling its size.
China created its own military space units in 2024 to respond to crisis situations in space. In response to the deployment of American weapons into space, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Beijing opposes the placement of weapons, militarization, and the arms race in outer space.
As Associated Press notes, such statements by American military officials run counter to long-established international conventions and agreements on the use of space exclusively for peaceful purposes. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty stipulates that the Moon and other celestial bodies are to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and prohibits the placement in space of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. In response to a question about the treaty and other similar commitments, representatives of the U.S. Space Force said that the United States will continue safe and responsible space operations in all corners of space.
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