Trump's advisor wants troops prepared to fight around the moon

General Dan Caine, head of the Joint Staff, told the military and industry representatives at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference on the outskirts of Washington that the U.S. Armed Forces must now adapt to be “prepared to fight, resist and win (...) from the sea’s bottom to the Cislunar space”.

The Space Force, the latest branch of the Armed Forces created by Trump in 2019, is preparing to fight in space and in the vicinity of the Moon because “humanity is moving deeper into space.”.

“The Space Force’s job is to help secure the preparation to defend the interests of the United States,” Lieutenant General Gregory Gagnon, head of the institution’s Combat Forces Command, stressed to journalists.

The announcement that the U.S. military are ready to fight in the region between high Earth orbit and the Moon itself arises days after Air Force Secretary Troy Meink revealed at the same conference that the US deployed “space control weapons in orbit.”.

The series of announcements on space armaments made by the military authorities in recent days contradicts long-standing international conventions and understandings that outer space should be used only for peaceful purposes and remain demilitarized.

Although several nations, including the United States, have demonstrated the ability to shoot satellites into Earth’s orbit, these demonstrations have taken place from the ground and against their own satellites.

According to Gagnon, “the intelligence community has been clear in stating that potential opponents seek to extend the war into space” and that the US Armed Forces need to react.

“ Our potential opponents, such as the PRC, actively seek to carry out activities in the system, in parts of space,” said Gagnon, referring to the People’s Republic of China, the official name of the country.

China created its own military space forces in 2024, tasking them to increase the capacity to manage crises in space.

When asked on Tuesday about the U.S. announcement to deploy weapons into space, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told journalists that “China always advocates the peaceful use of outer space, maintains the security of outer space and opposes militarization, the transformation of space into a battlefield and an arms race in outer space.”.

Guo also urged the US to “stop expanding its military preparations in outer space.”.