General John Raymond

Russia and China Trying to Tie America’s Hands in Space

April 13, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Bradley Bowman and Jared Thompson March 31, 2021 (foreignpolicy.com)

• China and Russia have sprinted to develop and deploy both ground-based and space-based weapons targeting satellites while simultaneously pushing the United States to sign a treaty banning such weapons. Washington should avoid being drawn into international treaties on space that China and Russia have no intention of honoring.

• The Treaty on the ‘Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space and of the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects’ (PPWT), which Beijing and Moscow have submitted at the United Nations, is a perfect example. PPWT signatories commit “not to place any weapons in outer space.” It also says parties to the treaty may not “resort to the threat or use of force against outer space objects” or engage in activities “inconsistent” with the purpose of the treaty.

• More than two years ago, the US Defense Intelligence Agency noted that both China and Russia were already developing space capabilities that could be used as weapons. The reality is that China and Russia are already racing to field anti-satellite weapons. “The space domain is competitive, congested, and contested,” said the head of US Space Command General James Dickinson. “Our competitors, most notably China and Russia, have militarized this domain.” The PPWT treaty would thus protect their weapons while tying Washington’s hands.

• China’s People’s Liberation Army units are already training with ground-based anti-satellite missiles capable of destroying satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit, where America’s most sensitive nuclear communication and missile defense satellites orbit. China has also tested several ‘scavenger satellites’ which can sidle up to other satellites and use grappling arms to capture the other satellite.

• In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin heralded a ground-based laser weapon designed to attack satellites. Last December, Moscow tested a ground-based anti-satellite weapon that could destroy satellites in orbit. Russia recently deployed a pair of “nesting doll” satellites where one Russian satellite actually ‘births’ another. The second satellite has the capability to fire what appears to be a space torpedo.

• Meanwhile, China and Russia are pushing the United Nations for a “no first placement” resolution in which no government should be the first to put weapons in space. In a thinly veiled attempt to mask their intentions, China and Russia claim that their on-orbit capabilities are simply for peaceful purposes — for assessing the condition of broken satellites and conducting repairs as needed. This “dual-use” disguise permits Beijing and Moscow to put into orbit ostensibly peaceful or commercial capabilities that can also be used to disable or destroy U.S. military and intelligence satellites.

• A typical space treaty clearly defines acceptable and unacceptable actions in space and includes inspection and verification mechanisms. But the PPWT treaty does not explicitly prohibit the ground-based anti-satellite weapons that China and Russia have already fielded. Nor does the proposed treaty prevent the deployment of space-based weapons under the cloak of civilian or commercial capabilities. The PPWT does not even prohibit the development, testing, or stockpiling of weapons on Earth that could be quickly put into orbit. Instead, the treaty calls for “transparency and confidence-building measures” implemented on a “voluntary basis.” In other words, Beijing and Moscow want the United States to trust but never verify.

• Moscow habitually seeks to use international arms control treaties to constrain the United States, while viewing treaty strictures as optional when they become inconvenient or when the Kremlin sees an opportunity to seize a military advantage. For more than a decade, Moscow used the ‘Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty’ to constrain the United States while the Kremlin produced, flight-tested, and fielded a ground-launched intermediate-range cruise missile in direct contravention of the treaty.

• Beijing usually avoids any type of international arms control treaties. The willingness of the Chinese Communist Party to support the PPWT is, therefore, cause for some additional reflection.

• Instead of falling prey to China and Russia’s PPWT trap, the United States must work with allies to improve the resilience and redundancy of spaced-based military and intelligence capabilities. “There are really no norms of behavior in space,” said General John Raymond, chief of space operations at US Space Force. “It’s the wild, wild West.”

• In December, the U.N. General Assembly passed a British-introduced resolution that seeks to establish “norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviors” in space, which could reduce the chances for dangerous miscalculation. The vote was 164 in favor, 12 opposed. Those opposing this resolution included China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba.

Saying one thing and doing the opposite is, unfortunately, common in international

diplomacy. Beijing and Moscow, however, seem to have a unique proclivity for the practice.

Consider the actions of the United States’ two great-power adversaries when it comes to anti-satellite weapons. China and Russia have sprinted to develop and deploy both ground-based and space-based weapons targeting satellites while simultaneously pushing the United States to sign a treaty banning such weapons.

To protect its vital space-based military capabilities—including communications, intelligence, and missile defense satellites—and effectively deter authoritarian aggression, Washington should avoid being drawn into suspect international treaties on space that China and Russia have no intention of honoring.

The Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space and of the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects (PPWT), which Beijing and Moscow have submitted at the United Nations, is a perfect example. PPWT signatories commit “not to place any weapons in outer space.” It also says parties to the treaty may not “resort to the threat or use of force against outer space objects” or engage in activities “inconsistent” with the purpose of the treaty.

**China’s PLA training with anti-satellite weapon**

On the surface, that sounds innocuous. Who, after all, wants an arms race in space?

The reality, however, is that China and Russia are already racing to field anti-satellite weapons and have been for quite some time. “The space domain is competitive, congested, and contested,” Gen. James Dickinson, the head of U.S. Space Command, said in January. “Our competitors, most notably China and Russia, have militarized this domain.”

Beijing already has an operational ground-based anti-satellite missile capability. People’s Liberation Army units are training with the missiles, and the U.S. Defense Department believes Beijing “probably intends to pursue additional [anti-satellite] weapons capable of destroying satellites up to geosynchronous Earth orbit.” That is where America’s most sensitive nuclear communication and missile defense satellites orbit and keep watch.

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Success of Private Space Companies Helps US Secure Space Domain

February 22, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Amanda Mcias and Michael Sheetz February 3, 2021 (cnbc.com)

• Despite fears that the Covid-19 pandemic would slow this past decade’s momentum, private investment in space companies set a record in 2002. Space Capital reported that builders of rockets and satellites brought in $8.9 billion last year, and venture capital investors continued to pour funds into space businesses.

• “There is a ton of excitement across America on space in all sectors,” said General John Raymond, the US Space Force’s chief of operations. Raymond confirmed that Wall Street has invested billions in the space industry. This in turn has sparked renewed interest in space commerce and recruitment in Space Force.

• There are “people…wanting to come into the Space Force in numbers greater than what we have slots to fill. [U]niversities are seeing more students apply for space STEM degrees. I think is going to be great for our nation,” Raymond said. “I’m excited about all of it, both what we’re doing here on national security and what’s going on in the commercial industry that we can leverage the advantage.” “[W]e are stronger with a secure and stable space domain and all of those sectors play into that.”

• Space Force has increasingly looked to partner with the private space industry sector. The Pentagon is closely watching the progress of rocket builders like Rocket Lab, Astra and Virgin Orbit in addition to SpaceX.

• SpaceX announced this month that it will fly its first all-civilian crew into orbit later this year, a mission known as Inspiration 4. The landmark flight, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, is aimed at using high-profile space tourism to raise support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Three yet-to-be-announced passengers will accompany Isaacman on the multiday journey around the Earth, with two of the seats to be decided in public online competitions this month.

• Raymond noted that SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully achieved the first operational launch of NASA’s Crew-1 mission, although SpaceX’s Starship rocket test flight on February 2nd was not so successful.

WASHINGTON – The nation’s top general leading the U.S. military mission in space said Wednesday that he is excited about Wall

Street and billionaire investment in the space industry, which has sparked renewed interest in the field among Americans and strong recruitment at the Pentagon’s youngest branch.

“There is a ton of excitement across America on space in all sectors,” said Gen. John Raymond, the U.S. Space Force’s chief of operations, when asked by CNBC about the strides made by private space companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“I’ve talked about people knocking on our door wanting to come into the Space Force in numbers greater than what we have slots to fill. I’ve talked in the past about how universities are seeing more students apply for space STEM degrees, which I think is going to be great for our nation,” Raymond added.

“I’m excited about all of it, both what we’re doing here on national security and what’s going on in the commercial industry that we can leverage the advantage,” the four-star general said without specifically naming any companies.

“The U.S. has always, has long understood that we are stronger with a secure and stable space domain and all of those sectors play into that,” Raymond said.

The U.S. Space Force, the Pentagon’s youngest branch, has increasingly looked to partner with the private sector as companies and investors pour into the space industry. The Pentagon is closely watching the progress of rocket builders like Rocket Lab, Astra and Virgin Orbit in addition to SpaceX.

Raymond’s comments came on the heels of SpaceX announcing this week that it will fly its first all-civilian crew into orbit later this year, a mission known as Inspiration 4.

The landmark flight, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, is aimed at using high-profile space tourism to raise support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Three yet-to-be-announced passengers will accompany Isaacman on the multiday journey around the Earth, with two of the seats to be decided in public online competitions this month.

Raymond also called out NASA’s Crew-1 mission, which was the first operational launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

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Space Force is Now Part of the Joint Chiefs

December 31, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by J. W. Sotak December 18, 2020 (sofrep.com)

• On December 18th, the Pentagon announced General John Raymond, Chief of Space Operations, will join the Joint Chiefs of Staff bringing the total war cabinet members to eight. General Raymond took his seat at the table of America’s most senior uniformed leaders on December 20th. “You’ve treated me like a member ever since [the law was signed],” General Raymond said during a ceremony at the Pentagon. “I can’t thank you enough. I can’t thank my teammates enough. It’s a real privilege to sit at this table.”

• The Joint Chiefs are the primary advisory body on all military matters, reporting to the President, Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, and the National Security Council. The incorporation of the Space Force underscores the new focus on space and cybersecurity, and suggests that it will be responsible for more than just monitoring satellites and overseeing scientific space missions.

• “This is an incredibly important organization for the United States military and for the United States as a country,” said General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “We recognize [space] clearly as a warfighting domain. And we also know that we, the United States, we’ve got to maintain capabilities in that domain if we are going to continue to deter a great power war.”

• When the Joint Chiefs of Staff was created in 1942, it comprised the chairman and the chiefs of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. In 1978, the Commandant of the Marine Corps was added, followed by the chief of the National Guard Bureau in 2012.

• While the DoD reports that Space Force will to expand to roughly 20,000 servicemembers in the coming years, it would still be only half the size of the Coast Guard, with roughly 40,000 active-duty servicemembers. The Army, the largest branch, had over 450,000 active duty members and another 280,000 in the Reserves according to a 2019 report.

• Space Force is technically a Department of the Air Force. Space Force will rely on the Air Force for “more than 75 percent of its enabling functions” including “logistics, base operating support, civilian personnel management, business systems, IT support, and audit agencies,” allowing the military branch to remain agile, avoid duplicative staff roles, keep costs down, and concentrate on their missions.

• Skeptics and critics had relegated Space Force to President Trump’s pet project. But as the mission of the Space Force has begun to solidify, so has its credibility. As a Space Force video states: “When foreign powers can build bases on the dark side of the Moon, when private companies are inventing a new economy beyond our planet, we need to stay one step ahead of the future.”

• The addition of General Raymond to the Joint Chiefs, Space Force isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The Pentagon announced today that the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been expanded to include General John Raymond, Chief of Space Operations. This brings the war cabinet total to eight members. The decision to enlarge the group was signed into law earlier this year, and while General Raymond won’t be officially added to the roster of America’s most senior uniformed leaders until the one-year anniversary of the formation of Space Force on Sunday, December 20, he says he has already been received by his peers.

**General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs**

“You’ve treated me like a member ever since [the law was signed],” General Raymond said during the ceremony at the Pentagon. “I can’t thank you enough. I can’t thank my teammates enough. It’s a real privilege to sit at this table.”

The Joint Chiefs occupy a critical role in national security. They are the primary advisory body on all military matters and report to the president, secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council, and the National Security Council. The incorporation of the Space Force underscores the new focus on space and cybersecurity. It suggests that the newest military branch will be responsible for more than just monitoring satellites and overseeing scientific space missions.

“We recognize it clearly as a warfighting domain. And we also know that we, the United States, we’ve got to maintain capabilities in that domain if we are going to continue to deter a great power war,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley said during the induction ceremony.

“This is an incredibly important organization for the United States military and for the United States as a country,” he added.

At present, the Space Force is still relatively small. While the DoD reports that it is slated to expand to roughly 20,000 servicemembers in the coming years, even at that number it would be half the size of the Coast Guard, the smallest of the military branches with roughly 40,000 active-duty servicemembers. The Army, the largest branch, had over 450,000 active duty members and another 280,000 in the Reserves at last count according to a 2019 report.

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China vs the US and the Risks of a Space Rivalry

December 15, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Sarah Zheng November 29, 2020 (scmp.com)

• The recent voyage of China’s Chang’e 5 lunar spacecraft to bring Moon samples back to Earth was more than a signal of China’s ambitions to US military officials. To Space Force General John Raymond it represented a threat that China and Russia pose to American access to space. “The two countries seek to stop US access to space, Raymond posted on the DoD website. “[T]hey are developing capabilities that would negate the US advantage.” Raymond is calling for the US to work more closely with its allies, to “stay ahead of the growing threat.”

• Raymond’s approach would continue to deny China access to American technology and ensure a clear separation between the US and Chinese space programs. But Matthew Daniels, a senior fellow at Georgetown University, notes that the division between the US and Chinese space programs is due to US barriers, resulting in almost no direct links between the two countries in space technology research, development and operations. The US is ahead in technologies such as reusable launch systems and satellite manufacturing, but China is narrowing the gap. So cutting the US off from Chinese advancements in technology could come at a cost for the United States and miss an opportunity to reduce the risk of political conflict. So should the US cooperate with China in some areas or continue to freeze it out?

• Further limits on the transfer of space technologies to China could be carried out with still more barriers to US commercial space technology transfers, extra limits on US civil space engagement and coordination, diplomatic pressure on third parties working with both the US and China, and visa restrictions on Chinese aerospace researchers. In the long term, however, it could encourage China to establish a stronger space technology ecosystem of its own. China would then have more of a chance to build alternative international coalitions, including by drawing in Europe and Russia.

• “The current separation will probably continue to slow China in the near term,” says Daniels. “[T]his effect will diminish, however, and it may help grow indigenous supply chains and markets in China.” The US could thereby lose its international leadership in space, while missing a chance to obtain strategic information about China’s space activities and reducing the opportunity to manage crises and conflict.”

When the Chang’e 5 lunar spacecraft lifted off from a launch pad in southern China this week it was not just a signal of China’s ambitions to bring moon samples back to Earth. Half a world away in the United States, the launch was a sign to US Space Force General John Raymond of the threat that China – together with Russia – poses in blocking American access to space.

“The two countries seek to stop US access to space, and they are developing capabilities that would negate the US advantage,” he said in an interview published on the US Department of Defence website.

Raymond called for the US to work more closely with allies, to “stay ahead of the growing threat” from China.

It is an approach that would continue to deny China access to American technology and ensure a clear separation between the US and Chinese space programmes.

But some observers say that this could come at a cost for the United States and miss an opportunity to reduce the risk of conflict.
The two space programmes are already “substantially separated”, according to Matthew Daniels, a senior expert for the Office of the US Secretary of Defence and a senior fellow at Georgetown University.

In a report published in October published by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Daniels said the division was due mostly to US barriers, resulting in almost no direct links between the two countries in space technology research, development and operations.

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US General Describes ‘China Threat’ in Space, Heating Up Rivalry

December 8, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Kristin Huang November 26, 2020 (scmp.com)

• With the launch of China’s Chang’e-5 lunar spacecraft and Beijing’s first lunar mission to bring Moon rock samples back to Earth, US Space Force General John Raymond remarked that China was a threat that could block American access to space, and that the US had to strengthen ties with its allies to handle the “threat” from China and Russia over space.

• Meanwhile, a successful mission would make China just the third country to have retrieved lunar samples, after the US and the former Soviet Union. Xu Hongliang, secretary general of China’s National Space Administration, told a space aviation forum on Wednesday that there were more Chang’e missions to come and China was planning to build an international research station on the Moon. Xu also said China would explore small celestial bodies, retrieve samples from Mars and pass by Jupiter and back again. Said Xu, “[W]e welcome international space agencies to participate in China’s future lunar and deep-space exploration cooperation.”

• The space rivalry between the world’s largest two economies is heating up. Beijing has been planning to build its own space station for decades as an alternative to the International Space Station, from which China has been excluded by the US because of security concerns.

• US officials say that China and Russia show threatening behavior regarding space. Raymond referred to an incident in 2007 when China hit and destroyed a disused Chinese weather satellite, testing its own missile capabilities. Until then, space had been considered a “benign domain,” but it was now it is contested. “China and Russia caused this shift in the strategic environment,” said Raymond. China and Russia’s capabilities include jamming of GPS and communication satellites, and directed energy and kinetic destruction of US assets via missiles on the ground.

• Raymond noted that “space really underpins … all of our instruments of national power. [I]t provides huge economic opportunity, scientific opportunity and military opportunity”, and that the US is eager to enhance ties with its allies… in space.” “We have to have different space architectures and we have to have partnerships,” Raymond said. “We’ve got to make sure that we stay ahead of this growing threat.”

• In the first nine months of 2020, China has sent 29 satellites into space – two more than the US. But observers say that China is still lagging behind the US, as private companies such as SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have taken the industry lead.

• China has grappled with launch failures. An optical remote-sensing satellite failed to enter its preset orbit in September, following another failed launch two months earlier, the Kuaizhou-11 commercial solid rocket, with two satellites on board. China also had satellite launch failures in March and April.

Rivalry between China and the United States in space exploration has reached new heights, with a US general saying China was a threat that could

block American access to space.

Just days after the launch of Beijing’s first lunar mission to bring samples back to Earth, US Space Force General John Raymond said the United States had to strengthen ties with its allies to handle the “threat” from China and Russia over space.

Raymond’s comments came as the head of the Chinese space administration said the nation would launch more lunar probes and invite other countries to join China on its missions.

The China-US space rivalry intensified after a Long March-5 rocket carrying the Chang’e-5 lunar spacecraft blasted off from Wenchang, Hainan province, on Tuesday morning.

In the first mission of its kind by any country in more than 40 years, the 8-tonne spacecraft comprises four components designed to bring samples back to Earth.

If the mission is successful, it would make China just the third country to have retrieved lunar samples, after the US and the former Soviet Union. But China’s space ambitions do not stop there.

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Space Industry Report Extends Geopolitics Out to the Moon

September 1, 2020
ExoNews Editor

August 24, 2020 (larouchepub.com)

• Last May, the US Space Force and Air Force Research Laboratory held a ‘space industrial workshop’ with 120 experts in government, industry, and academia. This resulted in a report released in July entitled: “State of the Space Industrial Base”, an unofficial assessment of industrial base supporting the US military in space.

• The report confirms a previous determination made in the National Security Strategy of 2017 that identified Russia and China as “strategic adversaries” of the United States. According to the 2017 report, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.” In this new report, Space Force chief, General John Raymond, writes in the forward that this viewpoint extends directly into space.

• The new report also cites a 2019 report from the Air Force Space Command entitled: “The Future of Space 2060 and Implications for U.S. Strategy” stating that “China is executing a long-term civil, commercial, and military strategy to explore and economically develop the cislunar domain with the explicit aim of displacing the US as the leading space power. Other nations are developing similar national strategies.”

• According to the report, China plans to “lure U.S. allies and partners away from U.S.-led space initiatives, through its Belt and Road Initiative and plans for an Earth Moon Economic Zone” worth $10 trillion. Through this initiative, China intends to become the leading, global/space super-power by 2049, displacing the US in that role.

• The report predicts that “the first nation to establish transportation infrastructure and logistics capabilities serving GEO and cislunar space will have superior ability to exercise control of cislunar space and in particular the Lagrange points and the resources of the Moon.” “The job of the US Space Force is to provide “security and a stabilizing military presence” for the U.S. economic presence in this zone.”

• The report goes on to suggest that the US Air Force “should consider the degree to which this role should emulate the US Navy role in assuring the maritime domain. Clarity on this issue will drive commercial confidence for a more rapid expansion of U.S. space entrepreneurial activity.” It urges the USAF to have “an increased role in America’s return to the Moon” and its planetary defense could ‘accelerate America’s edge in asteroid mining and in-space transportation.”

• “The U.S. should develop a guiding national vision for long-term space industrialization and national space development to catalyze whole-of-nation efforts and enable the United States to compete and win now and into the future,” says the report. This would include providing safety of navigation services, secure commerce, and protect civil infrastructure in the space domain in order to foster opportunities for partnerships with companies to develop prototypes and to procure operational product services.

• The report concludes that the US Space Force needs to continue the “space leadership created by recent policy and organizational advances …as space activities expand beyond geosynchronous orbit.”

• [Editor’s Note] What these studies and reports do not take into account is the fact that the United States military has had operational space fleets, using extraterrestrial propulsion technology, since the US Navy’s Solar Warden was deployed in the 1980s. Since then, the Air Force and NASA have both deployed their own secret space program fleets of advanced spacecraft and cislunar platforms. Other nations including China and Russia have done the same. So the real exopolitical space strategies go far beyond the alarmist geopolitical scare tactics found in these reports.

The report “State of the Space Industrial Base,” released last week by the Defense Innovation Unit, the U.S. Space Force, and the Air Force Research Laboratory, is, in effect, the space annex to the National Security Strategy of 2017. That document defines Russia and China as strategic adversaries of the United States. “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity,” it claims on page 2. That outlook is extended directly into the space domain by this report, writes Gen. John Raymond, chief of the U.S. Space Force, in the foreword to the document.

The report itself flowed out of a space industrial base workshop that met in New Mexico in May and brought together 120 experts in government, industry, and academia; but the report that they produced is not an official policy document. Rather, it’s an assessment of the state of the industrial base along with a set of recommendations. Nonetheless, “it is important that we listen to these insights and evaluate the feasibility of implementing them in the advancement of national interests. America’s future in space is a partnership and, as with any partnership, communication is key,” Raymond writes.

In the introduction, the report cites an assessment produced by Air Force Space Command in 2019 entitled “The Future of Space 2060 and Implications for U.S. Strategy,” which itself was the product of yet another workshop. That report, among other things, complains that “China is executing a long-term civil, commercial, and military strategy to explore and economically develop the cislunar domain with the explicit aim of displacing the U.S. as the leading space power. Other nations are developing similar national strategies.”

“The U.S. is not alone in planning to return humans to the Moon or expanding the use of space,” the space industrial report says.

“China has announced its intention to do so by 2035. China 22 is committed and credible in its pledge to become the leading, global super-power, to include space, by 2049 marking the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic. A key component of China’s strategy is to displace the U.S. as the leading power in space and lure U.S. allies and partners away from U.S.-led space initiatives, through its Belt and Road Initiative and plans for an Earth Moon Economic Zone.”

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Russia Has Many Questions About US Activities in Outer Space

April 23, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Tass News Agency (Russia) April 17, 2020 (tass.com)

• (On April 15th, General John “Jay” Raymond, the head of U.S. Space Command and chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force publicly announced that Russia had conducted a direct ascent anti-satellite missile test. In a statement, Raymond declared that the Russian test provided “yet another example that the threats to U.S. and allied space systems are real, serious and growing.” Raymond added, “The United States is ready and committed to deterring aggression and defending the Nation, our allies, and U.S. interests from hostile acts in space.” (see article here))

• Commenting on recent statements by General Raymond about Russia’s test launch of an anti-satellite missile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova (pictured above) said on Friday, “We also have a lot of questions (about the U.S. activities in outer space). We asked them quite a long time ago and want to have an answer.” Apparently, Moscow has been asking the U.S. for a meaningful Russian-U.S. dialogue on a wide spectrum of issues of space activities. Senior Russian and US diplomats agreed on January 16th to resolve mutual concerns.

• Zakharova says that Raymond’s statements are part of a deliberate campaign to discredit Russia’s peace initiatives in space, to avoid another Cold War. She said that US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Ford had made similarly provocative claims about Russian space activities. Zakharova believes these verbal attacks are “nothing but the United States’ attempt to divert public attention from real threats in space, and to justify its moves to deploy weapons in outer space and obtain extra financing for such causes.”

• The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson branded U.S. alarm about Russian space activities as “fake”. “[S]erious concerns… cannot be resolved by means of such statements,” said Zakharova. “It is necessary to use the existing channels for expert and political dialogue… We do have such channels and it is necessary simply to use them. Unwillingness to do so is rather an evidence of [the] insufficiently grounded position of our American colleagues.”

• [Editor’s Note] In February, General Raymond publicly called Russia out about a pair of Russian satellites deployed to pursue a US satellite last November, sometimes coming within 100 miles of it. “This is unusual and disturbing behavior …[that] has the potential to create a dangerous situation in space,” said Raymond. “The United States finds these recent activities to be concerning and do not reflect the behavior of a responsible spacefaring nation.” (see previous ExoArticle here)

MOSCOW – Moscow is waiting for Washington to answer its questions about the US activities in outer

space, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday, commenting on the statements by Gen. John Raymond, the first chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, about Russia’s alleged test launch of an anti-satellite missile.

“We also have a lot of questions. We asked them quite a long time ago and want to have an answer after all. A full-fledged meaningful Russian-US dialogue on a wide spectrum of issues of space activities security Russian and US senior diplomats agreed on on January 16 will help resolve mutual concerns,” she said.

Zakharova described Raymond’s statements as “Washington’s deliberate campaign to discredit Russia’s space activities and peace initiatives to prevent an arms race in outer space.” She recalled that it was not the first such allegation voiced by the US side. “Previously, such claims were voiced by US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Ford. We have commented on each and every such anti-Russian attack which are all nothing but the United States’ attempt to divert public attention from real threats in space and to justify its moves to deploy weapons in outer space and obtain extra financing for such causes,” Zakharova stressed.

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What Really is the U.S. Space Force?

April 2, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Alex Polimeni March 23, 2020 (crimson.fit.edu)

• Space has become an increasingly contested environment. The United States relies on satellites for missile warning, GPS navigation, secured communications, and intelligence gathering, all which are essential to America’s national security. But China, Russia, and India are among the countries that have rapidly advanced their anti-satellite weaponry to pose an extreme danger to American assets.

• If GPS satellites were to go offline, the financial system would crash, public navigation would be hindered, the power grid would be affected, military aircraft would lose navigation, and GPS guided bombs and missiles would be rendered useless. The US Space Force was formed late last year following increased hostility from other nations in space.

• At the initiation of Space Force, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said, “Now is the time for the US Space Force to lead our nation in preparing for emerging threats in an evolving space environment.” With Space Force, the US will be in a position to defend our national interests and outpace potential adversaries. Today, all GPS navigation satellites are controlled by the Space Force.

• Before the inception of Space Force, when satellites were seemingly out of reach, the US Air Force Space Command was responsible for the defense of our military assets in space. But in recent years, Russia and China have increased their aggression in space, deploying military satellites near US commercial satellites and building anti-satellite weapons within range of nearly all Earth satellite orbits. Space is now a warfighting domain.

• General John Raymond, head of Space Force, told the House Armed Services Committee, “Let me be very clear, we do not want a conflict that extends into space. But one way to keep that from happening is to make sure that we’re prepared for it and [can] fight and win that conflict if it were to occur.”

• Although Space Force remains under the supervision of the Department of the Air Force, it is separately funded and has a Joint-Chief of Staff that directly advises the President. Former Air Force bases at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg are to be renamed and transferred to Space Force.

• Space is the next battleground frontier. America’s military-might now depends on space. It is paramount that we are ready and willing to counter aggression and protect our space assets at all costs.

Missile warning, GPS navigation, secured communications, and intelligence gathering; all of these share

one commonality— they are essential to America’s national security.

The United States Space Force was formed late last year following increased hostility from other nations in space including China and Russia.

Space has become an increasingly contested environment. The United States relies on a plethora of defense satellites, spanning through multiple orbits. Orbits thought to be safe and out of reach. However, anti-satellite weapons have rapidly advanced, and pose an extreme danger to American assets.

According to an NPR report, countries including China, Russia, and India all have demonstrated anti-satellite capabilities through test launches.

Yet, as most Americans are not aware of these critical space-based assets, they could not even picture life without these unique capabilities. These satellites orbit overhead, in the shadow of the public eye. The satellites of the United States Space Force support every warfighting domain; including land, sea, air and space.

Daily life is intertwined around satellites owned by the Space Force. All GPS navigation satellites are controlled by the United States Space Force. If GPS satellites were to go offline, the financial system would crash, public navigation would be hindered, the power grid would be affected, military aircraft would have no sense of navigation, and more, according to an article from The Atlantic. Furthermore, GPS guided bombs and missiles would be rendered useless, according to a 60 Minutes interview with Bridger General Bill Cooley, the Commander at the Air Force Research Laboratory located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

In addition to the well-known GPS satellites, America relies on several other constellations, or groups of satellites, to monitor the globe for missile launches, provide secured communications, and more.

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Space Force Head Slams Russia for Trailing US Spy Satellite With Two Spacecraft

February 29, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Denis Bedoya February 15, 2020 (infosurhoy.com)

• On November 26, 2019, the Russian spacecraft, Cosmos 2542, was launched into orbit around the Earth. Two weeks later on December 6th, US military analysts noted that the satellite had unexpectedly split in two. A smaller satellite had effectively been ‘birthed’ from the larger one. Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the separation and said the purpose of the experiment was to ‘assess the technical condition of domestic satellites’.

• Operating in a polar oribit several hundred miles above the Earth, the pair of Russian satellites’ sensors and cameras are said to be focused on foreign adversaries’ top-secret military installations.

• But in mid-January, analysts noticed that the two Russian satellites were flying close by an American satellite dubbed USA 245. The American satellite is part of a reconnaissance constellation operated by the National Reconnaissance Office based in Virginia.

• On January 30, space enthusiast Michael Thompson raised concerns on Twitter, saying “there are a hell of a lot of circumstances that make it look like a known Russian inspection satellite is currently inspecting a known US spy satellite.” Thompson suggested that Cosmos 2542 may be getting close to USA 245 to take intelligence photos of the satellite or to debilitate it.

• Russia has a number of communications satellites positioned above the Earth that the Kremlin could use to gather intelligence, disable or destroy other satellites. This could potentially usher in a new era of ‘space war’.

• General John Raymond, the Chief of Space Operations for America’s Space Force, said the two Russian satellites began pursuing the multi-billion dollar US satellite in November and have at times flown within 100 miles it. “This is unusual and disturbing behavior and has the potential to create a dangerous situation in space,” said Raymond. “The United States finds these recent activities to be concerning and do not reflect the behavior of a responsible spacefaring nation.” The US has raised concerns about the matter through diplomatic channels with Moscow.

• The confrontation marks the first time the US military has publicly identified a direct threat to a specific American satellite by an adversary. The Pentagon, the White House, and Congressional backers say that Russia’s actions demonstrate the need for the Space Force, which was enacted into law in December.

A top Space Force official has lashed out at Russia for trailing a US spy satellite with two spacecraft.

Gen John Raymond, the chief of space operations for America’s newly-minted Space Force, said the two Russian satellites began pursuing the multi-billion dollar US satellite in November and have at times flown within 100 miles it.

‘This is unusual and disturbing behavior and has the potential to create a dangerous situation in space,’ Raymond said in a statement to Business Insider.

‘The United States finds these recent activities to be concerning and do not reflect the behavior of a responsible spacefaring nation.’

The US has raised concerns about the matter to Moscow through diplomatic channels, Raymond told Time magazine, which first reported the stalking on Monday.

The confrontation marks the first time the US military has publicly identified a direct threat to a specific American satellite by an adversary.

Pentagon, White House and Congressional backers have said that Russia’s actions demonstrate the need for the Space Force, which became the sixth military branch when President Donald Trump signed the $738billion National Defense Authorization Act into law in December.

US military analysts first took note of the Russian mission when a spacecraft that was launched into orbit on November 26 – the Cosmos 2542 – unexpectedly split into two about two weeks later.

Closer inspection revealed that the second smaller satellite – Cosmos 2543 – had been effectively ‘birthed’ from the first.

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First Chief of Space Force Sworn In

January 18, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Associated Press January 15, 2020 (king5.com)

• On January 14th, General John Raymond (pictured above with Vice-President Pence) was sworn in as the first ever Chief of Space Operations for the new U.S. Space Force. “Not only is (Space Force) historical, but it’s … absolutely critical to our national security and that of our allies,” Raymond said.

• President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law last month to officially launch the US Space Force. While the Space Force will operate under the Department of the Air Force, it is also a distinct military branch of service.

• The renewed focus on space as a military domain reflects concern about the vulnerability of military and commercial satellites that are susceptible to disruption by Chinese and Russian anti-satellite weapons. The new Space Command will conduct operations such as enabling satellite-based navigation and communications for troops and commanders in the field and providing warning of missile launches abroad.

Gen. John Raymond was sworn in Tuesday as the first ever Chief of Space Operations for the new U.S. Space Force.

President Donald Trump officially launched the Space Force last month when he signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law. It will fall under the Department of the Air Force but is a distinct military service.

The role of the new Space Command is to conduct operations such as enabling satellite-based navigation and communications for troops and commanders in the field and providing warning of missile launches abroad.

“Not only is this historical, but it’s critical and this establishment is absolutely critical to our national security and that of our allies and it’s not lost on me or it’s not lost on the airmen that I am privileged to serve with,” Raymond said.

The renewed focus on space as a military domain reflects concern about the vulnerability of US satellites, both military and commercial, that are critical to US interests and are potentially susceptible to disruption by Chinese and Russian anti-satellite weapons.

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Trump signs Space Force Act – Stage Set for Secret Space Program Disclosure

December 21, 2019
Michael Salla

President Donald Trump signed the Space Force Act into law yesterday night. It was included in the omnibus 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) funding Pentagon operations for another year, and officially creates a sixth branch of the military – US Space Force (USSF). Trump’s signing sets the stage for some amazing disclosures of what the USAF has secretly deployed in space for decades.

The budget allocated to Space Force is a paltry $40 million for its first year of operations, which effectively covers little more than the costs of hiring 200 new personnel and changing signs for personnel transferring from Air Force Space Command to the new Space Force. Approximately 16,000 civilian and military personnel will transfer from Air Force Space Command, which currently hosts 26,000 personnel, to the new Space Force.

On the surface, there appears to be little to be excited about with the creation of Space Force, which will continue to operate with largely the same personal and commander of the current Air Force Space Command – General John “Jay” Raymond.

Space Force will operate under the authority of the Department of the Air Force as an independent military branch, a temporary compromise, according to President Trump who would like to see the creation of a Department of Space Force eventually.

Critically, General Raymond is also in charge of US Space Command, the Pentagon’s newly created combatant command, which integrates the aerospace resources of the USAF, Army, Navy and USMC in combat operations around the world and outer space.

For the first year of Space Force’s existence, General Raymond will be dual-hatted as Chief of Space Operations and Commander of Space Command. This will allow Space Force to closely coordinate with other branches of the US military that have assets in space.

The big change that lies ahead is what the USAF plans to do with the highly classified space program it has secretly developed and deployed with futuristic aerospace technologies dating back to the 1970s. Lieutenant General Steven Kwast (USAF ret.) recently mentioned some of the cutting edge technologies developed in classified Air Force laboratories in a November 2019 lecture:

The technology is on the engineering benches today. But most Americans and most members of Congress have not had time to really look deeply at what is going on here. But I’ve had the benefit of 33 years of studying and becoming friends with these scientists. This technology can be built today with technology that is not developmental to deliver any human being from any place on planet Earth to any other place in less than an hour.

Less than a week before Trump signed the Space Force Act, the Secretary of the Air Force, Barbara Barrett, and Mike Rogers, one of the Congressman who co-sponsored the original bill for Space Force, both called for the USAF to declassify the advanced space technologies it has developed. Barrett said:

Declassifying some of what is currently held in secure vaults would be a good idea… You would have to be careful about what we declassify, but there is much more classified than what needs to be.

All the assets and personnel that clandestinely operate within the USAF secret space program will be transferred over to Space Force and the authority of General Raymond.

This will be welcomed by the commanders and personnel in the secret space program whose space activities have been classified so highly that it has negatively impacted career advancements and benefits when compared to their peers in more conventional Air Force programs.

The creation of Space Force sets the stage for the official disclosure of major components of the Air Force’s secret space program which I have discussed in detail in the US Air Force Secret Space Program. Disclosure is likely to begin with antigravity vehicles such as the legendary TR-3B, a flying triangle that was first sighted in the late 1980s, and newer rectangle-shaped flying platforms, which were photographed near McDill Air Force base in 2018.

There are also disk-shaped flying saucer craft and stealth space stations that were jointly developed with the National Reconnaissance Office. More incredible are the “stargates” or traversable wormholes that have been secretly developed and used for decades according to multiple insiders.

The disclosure of these and other advanced technologies will be mind-boggling and revolutionize the aerospace industry. More importantly, for the Trump administration, they will help re-industrialize America and establish Space Force as the leading military power in space for decades to come.

Further Reading

Space Force is a Go as Congress Gives its Approval

December 11, 2019
Michael Salla

A major hurdle was passed in the creation of a United States Space Force when a Congressional conference committee comprising members of both branches of Congress, meeting to resolve conflicting congressional bills, agreed to the legislative language authorizing its creation. The “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020”, contains the agreed language for Space Force’s creation, which will be voted on by both houses of Congress, and then signed by President Donald Trump.

The Secretary of the Air Force, Barbara Barrett, issued a statement after the Congressional conference committee gave its approval and said:

We certainly appreciate the hard work and bipartisan support of the Congress and the administration that is bringing a separate service for space closer to reality. We are reviewing the draft legislation and look forward to moving out smartly once legislation is passed by the Congress and signed by the President.

President Trump tweeted his approval of the agreement that had been reached and said he was ready to sign the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that will formally create Space Force.

Wow! All of our priorities have made it into the final NDAA: Pay Raise for our Troops, Rebuilding our Military, Paid Parental Leave, Border Security, and Space Force! Congress – don’t delay this anymore! I will sign this historic defense legislation immediately!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 11, 2019

The House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on the NDAA today, and will be quickly followed by the Senate before being sent to President Trump for his signature to enact it into federal law.

In the NDAA, which is nearly 3500 pages long, the agreed-upon language for Space Force appears under Title IX – Department of Defense Organization and Management.

Subtitle D discusses how Space Force will be set up and run. It asserts that the relevant sections in the NDAA (Title IX, Subtitle D) authorizing Space Force’s creation will be known in the future as the United States Space Force Act. (sec.951).

The Space Force Act re-designates “Air Force Space Command” as the United States Space Force (USSF). Space Force will be located with the Department of the Air Force. This will mirror how the US Marine Corps is embedded within the Department of the Navy but remains a separate military branch to the US Navy.

The composition of Space Force is described as follows:

(b) COMPOSITION.—The Space Force shall be composed of the following:

(1) The Chief of Space Operations.

(2) The space forces and such assets as may be organic therein.

The Chief of Space Operations (CSO) will report directly to the Air Force Secretary and one year after the passage of the Space Force Act will become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The present head of the U.S. Space Command, General John Raymond, will also be allowed to serve as the CSO of Space Force for the first year of its operations. This will enable Raymond to oversee the smooth transition of Air Force Space Command, which he also currently heads, into the new Space Force.

The reference to “assets as may be organic therein” as part of the initial composition of Space Force is intentionally vague. This will give Raymond broad authority to transfer assets from the Air Force into Space Force, and also transfer relevant space assets from the Navy, Army and Marine Corps. There is also another arguably more compelling reason why the assets language was left vague, as I will explain later.

The Space Act outlines the functions and duties of the Space Force as follows:

(1) freedom of operation for the United States in, from, and to space; and

(2) prompt and sustained space operations.

(d) DUTIES.—It shall be the duty of the Space Force to—

(1) protect the interests of the United States in space;

(2) deter aggression in, from, and to space; and

(3) conduct space operations.

The above functions and duties will give Space Force direct responsibility for protecting the civilian and military satellites that are the backbone of the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system that the Pentagon relies upon for its modern weapons. These have recently come under direct threat by China which has developed the antisatellite capacity to destroy all US satellites as part of its asymmetric military strategy called “Assassin’s Mace”.

Back in 2015, General Raymond warned: “Soon every satellite in every orbit will be able to be held at risk”. More recently, in January 2018, a “Top Secret” report by the Pentagon Joint Staff intelligence directorate “revealed China and Russia have built anti-satellite missiles and other weapons and will soon be capable of damaging or destroying every US satellite in low earth orbit” [source].

The defense of the US military and civilian satellite infrastructure will be among the most important responsibilities of the Space Force for decades to come. But what space assets will Space Force use to achieve its functions and duties as outlined in the Space Act?

This is where the topic of a secret space program run by the Air Force for decades becomes relevant, and why the Space Force Act contained a vague reference to “assets as may be organic therein”. This vague reference was intentionally used so the assets belonging to the Air Force’s secret space program comprising advanced aerospace technologies using exotic propulsion systems, some of which were reverse-engineered from captured extraterrestrial spacecraft, can be ‘organically’ incorporated into Space Force.

In the US Air Force Secret Space Program: Shifting Extraterrestrial Alliances and Space Force (2019), I described the different space assets possessed by the Air Force’s secret space program. These include disk-shaped “alien reproduction vehicles”; different models of the TR-3B/flying triangle craft; flying rectangle-shaped weapons platforms; and finally ring-shaped stealth space stations.

I have previously provided photos taken of some of the classified flying triangles and rectangles operating out of MacDill Air Force Base, and how this had been orchestrated by leaders of the Air Force’s secret space program. Indeed, the photographer identified personnel from Air Force Special Operations, as part of this covert space program.

All the assets belonging to the Air Force’s secret space program will be placed under the direct authority of the incoming Chief of Space Operations, General Raymond, who will ensure these are used to protect the sensitive satellite infrastructure that China is directly threatening with its asymmetric “Assassin’s Mace” military strategy.

The official creation and launch of Space Force in 2020 will be a momentous event. It will enable the official disclosure of many advanced aerospace technologies that use exotic propulsion and energy systems based on electromagnetic principles not thought viable or possible by conventional scientists. Some of these exotic propulsion and energy systems were recently disclosed in a series of US Navy patents showing their feasibility, and how they can be applied in ways that revolutionalize the aerospace industry.

Space Force will not only open the door to the release of many highly classified technologies and the aerospace craft that have been secretly built as a result, but will also pave the way to future official disclosures about advanced subterranean civilizations and extraterrestrial life residing on, or visiting our planet.

Further Reading

Tag: General John Raymond