Currently, Russia and China are working towards fighting wars in space, developing technology and weapons that could take out U.S. satellites that provide missile defense and enable soldiers to communicate and monitor adversaries, reports The Washington Post. The Pentagon has grown increasingly concerned about the vital role space plays in modern conflict. Last year, some members in the House wrote a proposal to create the Space Corps, which would become the first new military branch since the Air Force was created in 1947. The proposal was unsuccessful. But recent reports show that there are threats the United States could face in space. In 2007, China fired a missile that exploded a dead satellite. In 2013, they fired a rocket into a far more distant orbit, 22,000 miles away, where some of the United States’ most sensitive satellites live. This year, one of Russia’s satellites flew between two commercial Intelsat communications satellites and then snuck up to a third.
“There is strong evidence that Russia has embarked on a set of programs over the last decade to regain some of its Cold War-era counterspace capability,” according to the Secure World Foundation and The Washington Post.
The Pentagon is making some moves, however. In the fall, the Air Force launched its X-37B, classified space plane built by Boeing that can stay aloft for months at a time, according to The Post.
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