White House wants to allocate $30 billion for space forces to confront China and Russia in space

The Pentagon is preparing for possible conflicts in space as China and Russia build and deploy missiles and laser guns capable of disabling satellites and disrupting military and civilian communications systems.

Source. The Wall Street Journal

The US Presidential Administration has proposed an annual budget of $30 billion for the Space Force. This is almost $4 billion more than last year and is the largest (15%) budget increase among all branches of the military.

In addition, for the first time, the budget includes spending on simulators and other equipment on which the "sentinels," as space troops are called, will train to participate in combat operations.

This is an important part of preparing for a possible conflict, the WSJ notes: combat in space is fundamentally different than on Earth. For example, the physical and mechanical features of controlling objects moving at speeds over 27,000 km/h give the attacker an advantage.

In addition, it is impossible to get close to the enemy unnoticed, or to quickly change the orbit or direction of movement. "You can't dig a trench in space," said Marty Whelan, senior vice president of the Defense Systems Group at The Aerospace Corp. "If deterrence doesn't work, you can't wait for something bad to happen. We need to prepare the entire infrastructure."

Space Forces were spun off from the Air Force in 2019. Their main goal is to plan, implement, and protect US interests in space and analyze possible threats.

Background. Meanwhile, it has been reported that Russia's ability to launch satellites into space has decreased by 300 times.