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Top Trump military adviser says US must prepare to fight around moon
The Guardian • • nation
Key Points:
- Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized the need for American troops to prepare for combat not only in Earth's orbit but also around the moon, highlighting the expanding frontier of space warfare.
- The US Space Force, established in 2019, is gearing up to defend US interests in cislunar space—the region between Earth and the moon—as potential adversaries like China seek to extend warfare into space.
- The US recently disclosed it has deployed "on-orbit space control weapons," marking a significant shift from previous norms that treated outer space as a peaceful, non-militarized domain.
- China condemned the US's space weaponization, reaffirming its commitment to peaceful use of outer space and urging the US to halt military expansion in space, while both nations remain bound by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibiting militarization of celestial bodies.
- The US plans to double the Space Force's personnel to about 25,000 within five years, with a major focus on expanding its Combat Forces Command to address emerging space security challenges.
