A year ago, the Russian-Ukrainian war broke out, and many did not expect that it would last for long, but what happened on the ground is that it completed a full year as the largest land war in Europe since World War II, and its recent periods witnessed more prominence of the Western role and NATO ( NATO) to escalate again fears of its development into a global war.
But it seems that this is not all with regard to wars, as the global poles are fighting on the ground, whether directly or indirectly militarily, or through economic and propaganda wars, but it also seems to be a prelude to transferring part of the conflict to a new arena, which is space.
A few days ago, General Bradley Chance Saltzman - who is the commander of space operations in the US Air Force - came out to talk about space as an area of international competition, and confirms that the situation there has changed dramatically thanks to a group of weapons he produces from what he described as "strategic opponents" of his country.
Not only did Saltzman - who was speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference - hint, but he mentioned these opponents by name, saying that the greatest threat to American supremacy in space comes from the People's Republic of China and from Russia as well.
And the American general considered that his country should develop its approach in this regard because of a group of advanced weapons that China and Russia are trying to use, or have already used, such as anti-satellite missiles, directed energy weapons, and others.
Chinese airship
And the statements gained attraction given that they came shortly after what was known as the Chinese balloon crisis, which hovered at a great height over American soil for several days before it was shot down by Washington.
In any case, the American statements were not new, as they were preceded a few months ago by similar statements by the Chief of Staff of the US Space Force, Nina Armagno, in which she said that Beijing had made great progress in developing military space technology, including in areas such as satellite communications and vehicles. space that can be reused and allows countries to expand their space programs quickly, and she added, "I think it is entirely possible that they can catch up and outperform us for sure .. the progress that they have made has been amazing and rapid."
In fact, the race for armaments in space is not new, according to Agence France-Presse, which indicated that, starting in 1985, the US Department of Defense used a missile to destroy a satellite during an experiment, and after that the US competitors showed that they had the same capabilities, so China did that. in 2007 and India in 2019.
At the end of 2021, Russia destroyed one of its satellites with a missile launched from the ground, which Western circles considered a kind of show of force, and Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, went so far as to describe it as "irresponsible behavior."
The year 2019 witnessed clear evidence that space has become an arena of military competition, as the US Department of Defense created a special space force affiliated with the Air Force, while an American spokesman considered that Russia and China have the ability to outperform the United States in this field.
Long March
Yesterday, Friday, China announced that it had succeeded in sending a new remote sensing satellite into space, using a Long March 2-C carrier rocket, and successfully entered its planned orbit.
But the interesting thing is the number announced by China, stating that this is mission No. 464 of the Long March carrier rocket series, noting that China - which has invested billions of dollars in its space program - has its Tiangong space station (Heavenly Palace), and it also has an exploration vehicle on the surface Mars, and has already carried out several missions to the moon, according to the German news agency.
The agency adds that the Chinese are also working on a reusable spacecraft that can be deployed by 2025, and are also working with Russia on plans to establish a research station on the surface of the moon.
The American recognition of the technological development that China has made in space over the past few years is a strong indication of Washington's fears of the transfer of the conflict between the two countries to outer space, after it was raging in trade, armaments and influence.
During these years, the eyes of the strategists in the United States turned towards the space programs launched by China, whose efforts are led by the military, as it launched 39 missiles in 2021, compared to 31 launched by the United States, 20 by Russia and only 8 launched by Europe.
China started the year 2022 by sending a probe to the dark side of the moon for the first time in the history of space, and it plans to build an orbital station within the next decade.
Although China is still far from the United States in many aspects, including spending on civil and military space programs, what is remarkable is the great progress that China has achieved in the past years after it lagged behind the adults over decades.
Lunar Beijing plans
According to a report by the Qatar News Agency, decades ago, "subterranean" leadership became necessary for any modern army. The lethal precision munitions of the US army, for example, depend on instant satellite communications to hit their targets, and therefore anything that threatens the capabilities of the United States air force or orbit around the earth has become a threat. direct threat to national security.
Based on this point, the American fear of China stems from Beijing's lunar plans, and despite China's assertion of the full peaceful and scientific nature of its space programs, there is a conviction in Washington that the Chinese lunar presence can be militarized, perhaps without being easily detected unless the United States possesses The United States has a similar space capacity.
The same agency indicates that the real competition in the space conflict lies in two areas, in the short term: the military uses of space, and in the long term: the exploitation of space resources.
Extracting minerals or water from the moon or small planets, specifically for the production of rocket fuel, is still a distant goal, but American institutions and companies have begun working on that.
According to a BBC report last year, the progress made by the Chinese in the areas of missile technologies, nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence also raises serious concern among many Western observers who believe that a radical shift is taking place in the balance of military power on a global scale.
The same report questions the official data issued by China regarding its military spending, and says that the West's estimates of the financial support that China provides to its armed forces are much higher than Beijing's numbers, and these estimates believe that China spends more money on its armed forces than any other country, except for the United States of course. .