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US troops must prepare to fight around the Moon: Trump's top military aide
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen Dan Caine said the US military must prepare to "fight, endure and win" beyond Earth as Washington expands its focus on warfare in space
American troops need to prepare for combat not only in Earth's orbit but around the moon, President Donald Trump's top military adviser said Wednesday, looking ahead to a new frontier in warfare after the US revealed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told service members and industry figures at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference outside Washington that the US military should adapt now so it "is prepared to fight, endure and win ... from the seabed to cislunar space." Space Force, the newest military service, which was created by Trump in 2019, is preparing to fight in space and around the moon because "humanity is advancing deeper into space - the Space Force's job is to help be prepared to defend US interests," Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, head of the force's Combat Forces Command, told reporters separately.
The announcement that the US military is ready to fight in the area between high Earth orbit and the moon itself comes days after Air Force Secretary Troy Meink revealed at the same conference that the US has fielded "on-orbit space control weapons." The spate of announcements about space weaponry from military officials over recent days flies in the face of long-standing conventions and international understandings that have held outer space as only to be used for peaceful purposes and remain non-militarized.
Space Force says potential US foes may look to turn space into a battleground While multiple nations, including the US, have demonstrated the ability to shoot down satellites in Earth orbit, those demonstrations have taken place from the ground against their own satellites.
However, according to Gagnon, "the intelligence community has been clear that potential adversaries have been seeking to extend warfare into space" and that the US military needs to react.