The US military may be stationed outside the Earth in the future, Major General John Shaw, head of the US Space Operations Command, said.

“At some stage, yes, we will send people into space.

They can operate command centers somewhere in the region of the moon or elsewhere, ”Shaw said during an online conference organized by the AFWERX group.

However, according to the Major General, one should not expect that the personnel of the US Space Force will leave Earth anytime soon.

Shaw believes that one day it will happen, but when exactly - one can only guess.

The high-ranking military man also stated that, despite the claims of several countries for a permanent presence on the lunar surface, the space environment is unsuitable for human habitation.

According to him, in the future, the US bases outside the Earth can be partially autonomous, and the Space Forces are interested in increasing the level of robotization and self-control of their satellites.

“The best robots humans have ever created are satellites ... These are incredible machines, and we continue to improve them.

With machine learning and artificial intelligence, we will have a huge number of automatic and autonomous systems operating in low-Earth orbit, and heliocentric orbits in the days and years to come, serving national security missions in space, ”Shaw said.

Near-earth boundary

It is worth noting that a number of representatives of the Trump administration and American military leaders periodically express opposing views regarding exactly what tasks the Space Force should perform.

So, in February 2020, the deputy commander of this service, Lieutenant General David Thompson, expressed a position different from the current statement of General Shaw.

“Our commanders in positions remain a priority for us.

That's why we went there - not to fight for control of the Moon or Mars, but to ensure the availability of space resources to help our fighters on earth.

The possibility that today there will be astronauts in the Space Force is practically zero, ”Air Force Magazine quoted Thompson as saying.

  • Rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, 2019

  • Reuters

  • © Joe Skipper

Recall that a new, sixth type of the US Armed Forces - the Space Force (USSF) - appeared in December 2019.

At the same time, Donald Trump planned to create new troops back in 2018, making them completely independent, but it was not possible to implement the idea in a shorter time frame.

Today, the Space Force manages rocket launch sites in Florida and California, monitors ballistic missile launches around the world, and controls satellites for the Global Positioning System and other space systems.

At the same time, the US Space Force is going to increase activity in the field of manned space flights, space transportation and scientific research.

So, on September 22, the commander of this service, John Raymond, and the head of NASA, Jim Bridenstine, announced the signing of a "memorandum of understanding" aimed at cooperation in these areas.

Commenting on this event, Bridenstine noted that the space agency is an instrument of Washington's "soft power", the security of which is guaranteed by the military.

“We are an instrument of state power.

This is soft power.

This is a diplomatic force.

This is informational power.

It is an economic force.

But ... none of this we can do without safety in space.

This is why it was important to create the Cosmic Forces.

That is why it is important for NASA to cooperate with the Space Force, ”said the head of NASA.

Speaking about the prospects for the development of the Space Forces, experts note that Washington has allocated significant funds for the development of this type of troops in 2021, including for the deployment of satellites, communication systems and command centers, as well as various types of weapons in low-earth orbit.

"The United States adopted a program for the militarization of space, because it hopes that after all these ideas are implemented, those countries that want to launch a satellite into orbit will have to ask Washington for permission and pay it," military expert Yuri Knutov believes. ...

The interlocutor of RT recalled that even under Ronald Reagan, the Star Wars program was adopted, which became the basis for the process of militarizing outer space.

However, the United States could not fully implement this program at that time, since it did not possess the necessary technologies.

“After Trump united the Space Forces, which had previously existed in a scattered form, increased funding, a new space exploration program was prepared, and now it is being consistently implemented,” Knutov explained.

Cosmic balance

In the past few years, Russia has repeatedly warned the United States against turning space into a theater of war.

So, speaking in February at a conference on disarmament, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow calls on Western countries to develop measures that would prevent a military confrontation in outer space.

Then he noted that the plans of the United States, France, and, in general, the North Atlantic Alliance for the withdrawal of weapons into space are acquiring more and more real outlines.

In turn, in May 2020, the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said that Washington was not inclined to work together with Moscow to prevent a space arms race.

“Today we are not able to convince the Americans of joint work to prevent an arms race in outer space and not to place weapons of any kind in space, this is a fact,” the diplomat said in an interview with Zvezda TV channel.

He stressed that the United States is deliberately working to turn the near-earth space into an arena of confrontation with Russia.

“We see that purposefully the Americans, with the support of their allies, NATO are trying to make space a sphere of hostilities and possible clashes between our countries,” Antonov explained, adding that Moscow is doing everything possible to prevent this from happening.

At the same time, Washington and a number of European states do not express support for diplomatic instruments to prevent a space arms race, which are being developed by Russia and China, the ambassador added.

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Adastra

General Shaw's statement about the possible sending of American troops to near-earth space in the future should be regarded as evidence that the United States intends to continue to militarize space, Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Research of the Institute of the United States and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in a conversation with RT. 

“The creation of the new Space Force was a large-scale step by the United States to militarize near-earth space.

For Trump, this is one of the most important military achievements of his administration.

Currently, there are no international legal acts that would restrict such processes, except for the prohibition to place weapons of mass destruction there.

Under these conditions, only the continuation of the arms race in outer space can be predicted.

Naturally, in response to the appropriate steps of a potential adversary, Russia will have to take measures, ”the political scientist noted. 

According to Yuri Knutov, at the moment Russia has means of protection against weapons that the United States can deploy in space, and, if necessary, will make efforts to improve defense capabilities in this area.

“Russia has long had defense systems that allow it to effectively counter American space operations, for example, the A-235 Nudol complex, which can shoot down satellites in low orbits, and an electronic warfare system against satellites.

If the United States is the first to deploy various weapons or command centers, then Russia will revive such a program as a satellite fighter or will start mass production of MiG-31D aircraft capable of launching anti-satellite missiles, ”the expert predicted.