Space Is Now The Next 'Great Power' Contest Between The U.S. And China

The Space Force created during the Trump administration seeks new weapons to ensure its superiority in “a war-fighting domain.”Credit...Samuel Corum for The New York Times 

New York Times: How Space Became the Next ‘Great Power’ Contest Between the U.S. and China 

The Biden administration faces not only waves of Chinese antisatellite weapons but a history of jumbled responses to the intensifying threat. 

Beijing’s rush for antisatellite arms began 15 years ago. Now, it can threaten the orbital fleets that give the United States military its technological edge. Advanced weapons at China’s military bases can fire warheads that smash satellites and can shoot laser beams that have a potential to blind arrays of delicate sensors.

And China’s cyberattacks can, at least in theory, cut off the Pentagon from contact with fleets of satellites that track enemy movements, relay communications among troops and provide information for the precise targeting of smart weapons. 

Among the most important national security issues now facing President Biden is how to contend with the threat that China poses to the American military in space and, by extension, terrestrial forces that rely on the overhead platforms. 

The Biden administration has yet to indicate what it plans to do with President Donald J. Trump’s legacy in this area: the Space Force, a new branch of the military that has been criticized as an expensive and ill-advised escalation that could lead to a dangerous new arms race.

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WNU Editor: This is why the Pentagon's second top General confidently said that Space Force is here to stay .... U.S. Vice Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs of Staff Says U.S. Space Force Is 'On Solid Ground' (January 24, 2021).