Experts at Spacecom communications company have said in a report that the US would have upgraded its military power to a high level in space by 2020.
In 2009 and for the first time, the Pentagon demanded allocation of budget for boosting the country’s military power in space, eliciting reaction from China that warned that militarization of the space would constitute a violation of international conventions.
When US President Barack Obama announced in 2010 Washington’s space arms-control initiative, Russia noted that the world stability would be threatened.
Russia believes that the US development of non-atomic strategic arms and anti-missile system as well as attempts to deploy weapons in the space would negatively affect the world stability.
Military rivalry in the space has set the stage for the US, Chinese, and Russian armies to enter a new phase of international muscle-flexing.
The unmanned spacecraft OTV-2 (Orbital Test Vehicle) which was launched into space on March 5, 2011 spent 469 days of its mission in the earth orbit. The main objectives behind this launch still remain hidden.
The Pentagon set up the US Space Command to help institutionalize the use of space. The command is tasked with coordinating the use of Army, Naval, and Air Force Space Forces.
In 1996, US Space Command then-commander-in-chief General Joseph Ashy said the US was on the way to fight in space.
“We’re going to fight from space and we’re going to fight into space…That’s why the US has development programs in directed energy and hit-to-kill mechanisms,” he said at the time.
KA/HN
