#Space warfare could happen series

Everyone's been quiet on the details, but it's easy to fill in the blanks with scenes from Star Wars. Now, all of a sudden, the idea that we'll see some form of open space warfare within our lifetimes no longer seems so far-fetched. In turn, the US and Russia have tested a range of offensive and defensive technologies, and other nations, like India, seem eager to join the space arms race now too. Since 2007, China has openly tested earth-to-space anti-satellite weapons systems, successfully blowing up their own defunct crafts and threatening the orbital infrastructure on which most modern militaries rely. Recent tests of space weapons by China have brought the issue to the fore of defense and security agendas. Most nations have been eager to keep the option open, refusing to sign subsequent treaties with more stringent language restricting the militarization of satellites and spaceships. Yet as it turns out nothing in the Outer Space Treaty actually forbids the weaponization of space, meaning that so long as we don't use nukes up there, any form of extraterrestrial brutality is on the table. The funds allocated for these studies weren't huge-but the very concept of openly pushing for space weaponization is an interesting developing.Д®ver since 1967, when the US and USSR signed the Outer Space Treaty, expressly banning the use of nuclear weapons in space and establishing a norm of restraint and pacifism to preserve the vital infrastructure of satellites, most of us have come to view space as a neutral zone. This year, Congress urged the Secretary of Defense and Director of National Intelligence to start studying offensive space weapons in addition to defensive systems. This isn't just bluster from one corner of the government. 'We must prepare for the potentiality of conflict that might extend from earth one day into space.' Last year, Donald Trump launched the US Space Force which will be trained for 'orbital warfare.'We need to be ready,' James said, according to National Defense Magazine.

Milley said the US military recognises the threats and is 'moving at very quick pace' to prevent such attacks.

#Space warfare could happen series

He said: вЂњIf you took out say a series of satellites that were key to our communication systems, our command and control systems or our navigation systems, our precision, navigation and timing system, that could potentially have a devastating effect and could encourage some country to try to do something like an electronic Pearl Harbor with either electronic warfare systems or attack in space.вЂќ General Milley agrees and says US dependance on satellites could prompt a foe to carry out 'an electronic Pearl Harbor'. This is the same device which was spotted earlier this year stalking the Pentagon's spy satellite USA 245. It said that on July 15, an object was fired at 400mph into space from a spacecraft, named Cosmos 2543, which itself was said to have been 'birthed' - like a Russian doll - from its mother satellite, Cosmos 2542. This is the first time Washington has publicly accused Moscow of carrying out an anti-satellite weapons test in space. US Space Command (USSC) claimed it had 'evidence that Russia conducted a non-destructive test of a space-based anti-satellite weapon'.

In July, Russia raised the threat of a space war by test-firing a weapon designed to knock out enemy satellites.