The US military is now talking openly about going on the attack in space
"We have to build capabilities that provide our leadership offensive and defensive options."
Stephen Clark – Dec 13, 2024 10:40 AM | 54
Last year, Space Operations Command unveiled its first official painting, titled "High Ground Intercept," commissioned with artist Rick Herter. The painting illustrates a US military spaceplane intercepting an adversary's satellite, which in turn is positioning to disable a friendly satellite.
ORLANDO, Florida—Earlier this year, officials at US Space Command released a list of priorities and needs, and among the routine recitation of things like cyber defense, communications, and surveillance was a relatively new term: "integrated space fires."
This is a new phrase in the esoteric terminology the military uses to describe its activities. Essentially, "fires" are offensive or defensive actions against an adversary. The Army defines fires as "the use of weapon systems to create specific lethal and nonlethal effects on a target."
The inclusion of this term in a Space Command planning document was another signal that Pentagon leaders, long hesitant to even mention the possibility of putting offensive weapons in space for fear of stirring up a cosmic arms race, see the taboo of talking about space warfare as a thing of the past.
"While we've held it close to the vest before, some of that was just kind of hand-wringing," said Gen. Chance Saltzman, the top general in the Space Force, who also serves on the joint chiefs of staff. "It wasn't really something we needed to protect."
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/12/the-us-military-is-now-talking-openly-about-going-on-the-attack-in-space/
