If a conflict ever starts up in outer space, the U.S. government is making sure it's totally equipped to handle it. With China, Russia, and other countries developing technology that could threaten U.S. national security infrastructure in space, the Pentagon has designated a "principal space adviser" and is working on developing a "Space Fence" to help track debris in the solar system, while agencies across the Defense Department have started participating in "war-game scenarios involving space combat." And as The Washington Post points out, those are just the steps the Pentagon is disclosing:
The Pentagon spends $22 billion on space programs and is investing an additional $5 billion in space efforts this year, including $2 billion for what is known as "space control,” which includes its highly classified offensive programs. [Air Force Gen. John] Hyten declined to discuss the ways in which the United States is preparing to attack other countries in space. But the United States has had the capability to blow up satellites since 1985, when an F-15 fighter pilot fired a missile into space that took out an old military observation satellite. [The Washington Post]
The U.S. currently relies on space satellites for everything from providing communication in remote areas and guiding ships, bombs, and drones, to providing civilians with driving directions and television signals. "We have considered space a sanctuary for quite some time," Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. Work said. "And therefore a lot of our systems are big, expensive, enormously capable, but enormously vulnerable."
Read the full story on why the Pentagon is turning its defense efforts toward space at The Washington Post.
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