Tag: Russia

Rep. André Carson Calls for Public Hearing on UFOs

July 9, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Celine Castronuovo July 4, 2021 (thehill.com)

• On July 4th, Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.) (pictured above), chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation, was on the CBS news show “Face the Nation”. The discussion turned to the newly released unclassified government report on UFOs which Carson admitted was largely “inconclusive” on the origins of more than 140 unidentified flying objects that the US military has observed since 2004. (see 5 minute video below)

• Carson called on Congress to hold hearings on reported UFOs. “My hope … is that we will have a series of hearings and possibly a public hearing in the very near future,” Carson said, though he did not give a specific timeline. “What we do know is that … there have been nearly 150 (UFO) sightings. Eighty of those sightings have been detected with some of the best technology the world has ever seen.”

• The UAP Task Force report noted that many UFO sightings have occurred near US military assets, our naval bases, our military installations. One of the possible explanations for the still unidentified UFOs could be advanced technologies developed by U.S. adversaries such as China or Russia. “We don’t want our adversaries to have … a technological advance over us in terms of what they can do with their capabilities,” Carson said, warranting concern and the need for further investigation. But Carson added that sightings around US military bases may result from a ‘collection bias’ due to “focused attention, greater numbers of latest-generation sensors operating in those areas, unit expectations, and guidance to report anomalies.”

• Finally, Carson admitted that government officials “can’t rule out something that’s otherworldly” in a small percentage of cases. It would be “arrogant to say that there isn’t life out there,” said the Congressman. “If it is otherworldly, we have to take into account our advancements in terms of our cellphone technology and why aren’t these images being captured? We have to think about the nearly 4,000 satellites that are orbiting the Earth right now. Most of those satellites have cameras attached to them. Why hasn’t any of that information been released?”

• [Editor’s Note] Congressman André Carson claims not to know why there isn’t more information available on UFOs or if they even exist. Two possible explanations why Carson seems to be so out of touch with reality might be: 1) Carson knows full-well about the long-standing extraterrestrial presence around our world and our government’s ongoing interaction with a number of different ET beings since at least WWII, but he has been told to play dumb so as not to cause a public panic; or 2) Carson really is ignorant of the most important reality in human history due to a lack of any intellectual curiosity whatsoever.

Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.), chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation, is calling on Congress to hold a “series of hearings” on reported UFOs following last month’s highly anticipated release of an intelligence report on the subject.

The congressman said in interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that because the newly unclassified report on UFOs, referred to by the Pentagon as “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP), was largely “inconclusive” on the origins of more than 140 objects, additional probes are needed.

“My hope … is that we will have a series of hearings and possibly a public hearing in the very near future,” Carson said, though he did not give a specific timeline.

“What we do know is that … there have been nearly 150 sightings,” he added. “Eighty of those sightings have been detected with some of the best technology the world has ever seen.”

While Carson said officials “can’t rule out something that’s otherworldly,” he added that was possible in only a “very small percentage” of cases.

Last month’s highly anticipated UAP report said that nearly all of the 144 such encounters documented by the U.S. government since 2004 remained a mystery, though the Office of Naval Intelligence’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force was able to confirm that one of the objects was a “large, deflating balloon.”

One of the possible explanations included in the report was that the UAP could be advanced technologies developed by U.S. adversaries such as China or Russia, potentially posing a national security threat.

5:05 minute clip of André Carson on CBS news show (‘Face the Nation’ YouTube)

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

UAPTF Report: UFOs Are Real. Now What?

July 4, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Jazz Shaw June 26, 2021 (nationalreview.com)

• NOW that we’ve had some time to absorb the release of the long-awaited UAP Task Force report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), let’s try to wrap our heads around what the report actually said. First of all, the public version of the report was painfully short. The classified report given to Congressional Intelligence and Armed Services committees is ten times longer. The Department of Defense and intelligence community really don’t like talking about this subject. DoD officials say that even getting that nine page unclassified public report out of the Pentagon was an exercise in ‘pulling teeth’.

• Still, there were important admissions made in the UAPTF report. First, the vast majority of UFO incidents they studied “probably do represent physical objects” as they were usually identified on multiple avenues of sensory data, in addition to testimony from pilots and technicians who watch the skies for a living.

• Second, the ODNI conceded that out of 144 UFO incident reports, they were able to conclusively identify only one of them as a deflated balloon. They simply don’t know what the rest of them are. The government claims that it isn’t American technology (although many people have no faith in this statement). The report goes on to say that there is no evidence that these UFOs indicate a major technological advancement by a potential adversary either.

• The report notes that most of the reported UFO sightings took place in controlled airspace, in the midst of our naval battle groups and even over military facilities in mainland North America. If there were the slightest indication that those things came from Russia or China and were showing up over our testing range in Nevada or Montana, our real-world military would be at least trying to shoot them down. But our top pilots say that these UFOs ‘leave our Super Hornet (jets) in the dust’. Commander David Fravor who saw the Tic Tac UFO in 2004 said that if the UFO had been hostile, he never would have stood a chance.

• Third, the report states, “Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernible means of propulsion,” ie: flight-control surfaces, rotors, exhaust ports, or wings. As for acceleration speed of the UFOs, pilots describe them as ‘simply disappearing’. This suggests anti-gravity technology. It is not a stretch to assume that our military has this technology, and so do our Earthly adversaries.

• There is plenty of substance to the publicly declassified report. Our government has been studying these things for more than 70 years. The scrutiny has intensified over the past decade and new policies encourage the reporting of anomalous encounters rather than punishing anyone who mentions them. Following the release of the report, the deputy secretary of Defense issued a memorandum instructing both military and government personnel to report any UFO sightings and ordering the creation of better methods of receiving, recording, and analyzing such data.

• So where does that leave us? Has the US government switched from a policy of denying the existence of UFOs to one of trying to gaslight us all into believing in them to a limited degree? Whatever they might be — they are out there. They almost certainly are not the property of our government, our allies or our adversaries. Eliminating those Earthly sources, we’re quickly running out of candidates.

NOW that we’ve all had some time to absorb the release of the long-awaited UAP Task Force report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), it’s probably a good idea to try to wrap our heads around what the report actually said. Perhaps even more to the point, we should make note of what it did not say, this being a subject that seems to elude some of the reporters who are relatively new to the entire UFO phenomenon. And yes, many of us are going to stubbornly continue to use “UFO” no matter how hard the U.S. government tries to get us to say “UAP” so everyone won’t sound quite so crazy.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the public version of the report was short. Painfully short when compared with some of the aspirational dreams of the faithful in ufology. The classified report given to appropriate congressional committees (Intelligence and Armed Services) is reportedly ten times longer and contains all manner of goodies, but we may never see those. Reliable testimony from former Defense Department officials suggests that even getting that slim report out of the Pentagon for the public was an exercise in pulling teeth. They really don’t like talking about this subject.

None of this should be taken to mean that the report was a dud. There were important admissions made by the ODNI on Friday. One of the first was that the vast majority of “UAP” incidents they studied “probably do represent physical objects.” They draw this conclusion from the fact that most were picked up using multiple avenues of sensory data, in addition to testimony from pilots and technicians who watch the skies for a living. So it’s not just swamp gas, “ball lightning,” or birds. And if you’ve seen one, you may not be crazy. (Or if you are, it’s not because of this.)

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

NATO Mutual Defense Pact to Add Space Attacks

June 27, 2021
ExoNews Editor

June 14, 2021 (abc.net.au)

• Around 2,000 satellites orbit the Earth, and over half of them are operated by NATO countries, ensuring everything from mobile phone and banking services to weather forecasts. Military commanders rely on some of these satellites to navigate, communicate, share intelligence and detect missile launches. Around 80 countries have satellites, with private companies are moving in as well. In the 1980s, just a fraction of NATO’s communications was via satellite. Today, it’s at least 40 per cent.

• Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty states that attacks on any one of the 30 NATO allies will be considered an attack on all of them. NATO’s collective defense clause has applied to military attacks on land, sea, or in the air, and more recently in cyberspace. It has only been activated once, when the members rallied behind the US following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

• Many NATO member countries are concerned about what they say is increasingly aggressive behavior in space by China and Russia. In December 2019, NATO leaders declared space to be the alliance’s “fifth domain” of operations, after land, sea, air and cyberspace. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (pictured above) said that “any attack on space capabilities, like satellites and so on or attacks from space, will or could trigger Article 5 …which states that an attack on one will be regarded as an attack on all – that we all will respond.”

• Former US President Donald Trump raised deep concern among US allies, notably those bordering Russia like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, when he suggested that he might not rally to their side if they didn’t boost their defense budgets. Since occupying the office, Biden has tried to reassure them of America’s commitment to its European allies. Trump also ordered the creation of the US Space Force, which was launched in 2019. “Space is the world’s new war-fighting domain,” said Trump.

**NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg**

NATO leaders are set to expand the use of their all-for-one, one-for-all, collective

defence clause to include attacks in space, the military organisation’s top civilian official says.

Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty states that attacks on any one of the 30 allies will be considered an attack on all of them.

So far, it has only applied to military attacks on land, sea, or in the air, and more recently in cyberspace.

“I think it is important [with] our Article 5, which states that an attack on one will be regarded as an attack on all, that we all will respond,” NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said.

“We will make it clear at this summit that, of course, any attack on space capabilities like satellites and so on or attacks from space will or could trigger Article 5,” he said, a few hours before chairing a summit with US President Joe Biden and his counterparts.

Around 2,000 satellites orbit the Earth, over half operated by NATO countries, ensuring everything from mobile phone and banking services to weather forecasts.

Military commanders rely on some of them to navigate, communicate, share intelligence and detect missile launches.

In December 2019, NATO leaders declared space to be the alliance’s “fifth domain” of operations, after land, sea, air and cyberspace.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Elizondo Insists That UFOs Aren’t Ours, Theirs, or Alien

June 25, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Bhaswati Guha Majumder June 10, 2021 (swarajyamag.com)

• Luis Elizondo (pictured above), the former head of the Pentagon’s UFO research program, told the Washington Post that UFOs have frequently rendered our nuclear weapons unusable. “We’ve had incidents where these UAPs have interfered and actually brought offline our nuclear capabilities.” Given the fact that nuclear technologies in the US are being phased out, some might say this is a good thing. But Elizondo says that he has data showing that UFOs have actually put nukes online in other countries, which is “just as concerning”. At any rate, these UFOs certainly have an interest in America’s nuclear technology, and have the capacity to tamper with it.

• Elizondo noted that UFOs also have some sort of connection with, and have a tendency to be seen in and around water.

• Elizondo then turned the subject to UFO’s hypersonic velocity and their ability to change directions instantly. “[H]uman beings can withstand about 9 G forces or some of our best aircraft can withstand about 16 Gs. These things are doing 3-, 4-, 600 Gs in mid-flight,” he said. And at these hypersonic speeds, they can make a 90 degree turn. “To put that into context, our SR-71 Blackbird when at 3,200 miles an hour wants to take a right-hand turn, it takes roughly half the state of Ohio to do it,” said Elizondo.

• According to Elizondo, the third main technological capacity found among UFOs is cloaking technology.

• Elizondo’s remarks came after a sneak peek at a Pentagon assessment on UFOs, which is due to be disclosed by June 25th, which purportedly revealed no concrete evidence of extraterrestrial technology underpinning the bizarre aerial phenomena. If it isn’t alien technology, then that leaves two alternatives. Either this is secret US technology that we’ve managed to keep secret even from ourselves, or Russia and/or China have leap-frogged our own technological development, which has escaped the attention of our entire intelligence apparatus.

• Elizondo says that the new Pentagon investigation will rule out the possibility that these UFO sightings are linked to US technology. Furthermore, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe announced definitively that this is not Russian technology.

• So, that leaves China. But Chinese officials recently stated that the Chinese military is now using artificial intelligence to investigate UFOs after being “overwhelmed” by UFO reports. It is unnatural for an authoritarian state like China to admit to a lack of control over national security matters, said Marik von Rennenkampff, a former analyst with the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation at the US Department of State. And it is not likely to be part of a deception campaign by Beijing. According to von Rennenkampff, China is equally baffled by some of the same UFO events as the United States. China has struggled to produce engines for its fifth-generation fighter aircraft. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that they have managed to develop flying saucers.

• Elizondo pointed out that there have been reports of UFO sightings since the 1950s. It doesn’t make sense that in 1950 China would have mastered this beyond next-generation technology to be able to fly anywhere on the face of the planet, but has managed to keep it as a secret for 70 years. Also, China has a habit of stealing technology from the US. “So, one has to ask the question that if…a country had this technology, would it be necessary to steal…much more basic technology from another country?”

• [Editor’s Note] Oh, well if the government says that the US doesn’t possess UFO technology, then that’s good enough for me. The US government/ military industrial complex/ deep state would never lie to us, would they? The US intelligence community would never use the Senate Committee’s report to further the deep state’s agenda of hiding the fact that the US government has secretly possessed extraterrestrial anti-gravity electromagnetic propulsion and cloaking technology since the 1950s, would they? Of course not. And a former CIA counter-intelligence official like Elizondo would never be a part of that agenda, would he? So the mind-controlled, brain-dead American public will simply have to accept that the UFOs we’ve seen are not ours, not theirs, and not alien in origin. And if they did not come from anywhere, then they must not exist at all. The only answer then is mass hallucination. This makes perfect sense. Thank you Lue for clearing that up.

Luis Elizondo, the former director of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), said in a recent interview that unidentified flying objects or UFOs have frequently rendered nuclear weapons unusable in the United States.

While referring to UFOs by their official Pentagon term, Unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), Elizondo told Washington Post: “We’ve had incidents where these UAPs have interfered and actually brought offline our nuclear capabilities”.

“I think to some they would probably say, well, that’s a sign that whatever this is, is something that is peaceful,” Elizondo said of the fact that nuclear technologies in the United States are being phased out.

“But in the same context, we also have data suggesting that in other countries these things have interfered with their nuclear technology and actually turned them on, put them online. So that is equally, for me, just as concerning,” he added.

According to his understanding, there is enough evidence at this point to show that there is an interest in America’s nuclear technology, as well as the capacity to tamper with it.

The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), which was formed last summer by the Pentagon to examine odd aerial phenomena, has taken the role of the now-defunct AATIP.

The former AATIP director claimed that there are some common traits among UFO sightings.

“We see an interest in our nuclear capabilities, and then we have this really bizarre…I don’t know if you call it an interest, but there seems to be a connection with water, and these things have a tendency to be seen in and around water,” said Elizondo.

He also shared other observations on the technological capabilities implied by UFO sightings.

Elizondo told the American news outlet: “The first is hypersonic velocity. The ability to change directions instantly”.

“And when I say instantly, I mean human beings can withstand about 9 G forces or some of our best aircraft can withstand about 16 Gs. These things are doing 3-, 4-, 600 Gs in mid-flight,” he added.

He also noted UFOs’ hypersonic speeds.

Elizondo explained that “you know, there are [some known human] technologies that can go that fast, but then again, you don’t expect a hypersonic aircraft to do a 90-degree turn”.

“To put that into context, our SR-71 Blackbird when at 3,200 miles an hour wants to take a right-hand turn, it takes roughly half the state of Ohio to do it,” he added.

According to him, the third main technological capacity found among UFOs is cloaking technology.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

‘Divine Vessel’ Rocket Launches China’s First Human Spaceflight Since 2016

June 22, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Janis Mackey Frayer June 17, 2021 (nbcnews.com)

• On June 17th, the Chinese Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, sending three astronauts on a historic mission to an orbiting space station that China is currently building. It was the first time in five years that China has sent humans into space. (see 1:07 minute video of launch below)

• Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Vessel,” is one of 11 planned missions to complete construction of China’s 70-ton ‘Tiangong’ or “Harmony of the Heavens” space station that should be up and running by next year. The astronauts will remain docked with the main Tianhe section of the station for three months to perform spacewalks, maintenance work and critical testing of life support and other systems.

• “I believe that in the near future, when the Chinese space station is complete, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts taking on joint missions,” China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming said at an earlier news conference. “Exploring the vast universe, developing space activities and building a powerful space nation is our unremitting space dream.”

• The 20 year-old International Space Station, or ISS, which has hosted astronauts from the U.S., Russia and a number of other countries is set to be decommissioned after 2024. China has long been frozen out of and ISS mission due to American concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and connections to its own military. Moscow has hinted that it may withdraw from ISS cooperation in 2025, meaning China could be the only country with a functioning space station.

• The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, also signed an agreement in March with the Chinese National Space Administration to build a base on or around the Moon, which they will call the International Scientific Lunar Station. “All the firsts that the U.S. and the USSR did in the Cold War, China is just ticking them off,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “Now they’re at the point where they’re starting to think, ‘OK, we’re not just copying the West anymore, we’re going to start doing our own thing’. And that’s going to be very interesting to watch.”

• On the day before the launch, the three Chinese astronauts (pictured above) met with reporters from inside a germ-free glass chamber. Veteran Nie Haisheng, 56, was looking forward to his third trip to space, while Liu Boming, 54, took part in a 2011 mission that included China’s first spacewalk. They were joined by 40-year-old Tang Hongbo, who was looking forward to his first journey up to the stars, having been selected for training in 2010.

• After Tianhe’s main module was successfully launched last month, state media reported that President Xi Jinping wrote a letter to congratulate Chinese engineers for a breakthrough that earned a place in the nation’s history. NASA and others scolded Beijing for acting recklessly by allowing a rocket booster from that mission to fall to Earth in a seemingly uncontrolled manner.

• The Shenzhou-12’s launch was covered on state television and celebrated as a matter of prestige ahead of the Communist Party’s 100th anniversary next month. For Xi, the space station holds symbolic value in his vision of his country as “a space power in all respects.”

• But as China pours billions of dollars into its space programs, including an exploration of the dark side of the Moon and its recent landing of a rover on Mars, some analysts fear that its lack of international coordination is creating a dangerously competitive playing field in space. “There is no doubt the U.S. is the most advanced,” Zhou Jianping, the chief designer at China’s Manned Space Agency told NBC News. “Regardless of scale, China develops space programs out of our country’s own need … to fulfil our own dream.”

JIUQUAN, China — A Chinese rocket blasted off from a launch pad in the Gobi Desert on Thursday, sending three astronauts on a historic mission to an orbiting space station China is building.

Fire and huge clouds of dust could be seen in the distance when the Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule roared away from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, as China’s space race with the United States and Russia continues to gather pace.

It was the first time in five years that China has sent humans into space.

For Rong Yi, the rocket’s chief designer, it was hard to see it go.

“We have invested so much energy,” she told NBC News, likening the rocket to raising a child. “But I am thrilled to see it fulfill its duty within 10 minutes.”

**China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming**

Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Vessel,” is one of 11 planned missions to complete construction of China’s 70-ton Tiangong or Harmony of the Heavens space station that is set to be up and running by next year.

The astronauts will remain docked with the main Tianhe section of the station for three months — China’s longest crewed mission yet — to perform spacewalks, maintenance work and critical testing of life support and other systems.

“I believe that in the near future, when the Chinese space station is complete, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts taking on joint missions,” China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming said at a news conference Wednesday ahead of the launch.

**Zhou Jianping, the chief designer at China’s Manned Space Agency**

“Exploring the vast universe, developing space activities and building a powerful space nation is our unremitting space dream,” he said.

China has long been frozen out of the International Space Station, or ISS, a project launched 20 years ago that has served as the ultimate expression of post-Cold War reconciliation between Russia and the United States. American concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and connections to its military were largely responsible for that.

But the aging ISS that hosted astronauts from the U.S., Russia and a number of other countries is set to be decommissioned after 2024. As broader U.S.-Russia relations deteriorate, Moscow has hinted that it may withdraw from ISS cooperation in 2025, meaning China could be the only country with a functioning space station.

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, also signed an agreement in March with the Chinese National Space Administration to build a base on or around the Moon, which they will call the International Scientific Lunar Station.

1:06 minute video of the launch of the Long March-2F rocket
carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule (‘NBC News’ YouTube)

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

UFOs Have Been Menacing the US for 70 Years Says Elizondo

June 20, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Katie Balevic June 5 2021 (the-sun.com)

• Top US officials were pre-briefed on the Pentagon’s report that is due for release by the end of this month. In short, US intelligence cannot explain over 120 documented UFO sightings.

• Fox News’ Tucker Carlson remarked, “It doesn’t sound like they can say much of anything.” “The Pentagon cannot say that UFOs are from a different solar system, but they can’t say they’re not. They can’t say they’re from China or Russia, but they can’t say they’re not,” Carlson said.

• So Carlson turned his questions over to Lue Elizondo, a former Pentagon official who oversaw investigations of UFO sightings. Elizondo offered a history lesson on UFOs. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Elizondo obtained records that show the US military has been monitoring UFOs since 1950, possibly even earlier. “This is official government documentation from military personnel to very senior military brass,” said Elizondo.

• Elizondo says that senior military personnel and scientists have spotted UFOs over US military facilities on multiple occasions. “The US government has finally admitted that this is not some sort of secret US technology,” he said. “But now, there is some wiggle room to say, ‘Well maybe it is some foreign adversarial technology.'”

• Elizondo thinks the likely culprits would be either China or Russia. But Russia shared much of its UFO information with the US following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and “they were seeing the exact same thing in their skies that we were,” he said, eliminating Russia as a suspect.

• Elizondo noted that China is frequently behind the curve on technology in comparison to the US. He doubts that either China or Russia would have the technological capabilities to conduct such advanced surveillance on US military operations. It is extremely unlikely that either China or Russia would have this type of technology – at least 1000 years ahead of us – and kept it secret since the 1950s.

• While Elizondo appeared to dismiss theories that the UFOs could be Chinese or Russian technology, he didn’t suggest any other possible culprits. He did note, however, an increase in UFO sightings as the country developed its nuclear abilities. “We began to see an increased uptick of what appeared to be some sort of reconnaissance or surveillance of our nuclear technology, our nuclear development – whether it’s power or propulsion or weapons systems and related technology,” he said.

• [Editor’s Note] Elizondo – a former counter-intelligence official with the CIA – says that UFOs have been breaching US military airspace since the 1950s (true), and they aren’t American, Chinese or Russian. But government officials cannot say they are extraterrestrial in origin.

What are they hiding? They are hiding the fact that Hitler and the Nazi’s obtained advanced anti-gravity electromagnetic propulsion technology from extraterrestrials just prior to WWII, induced the American military industrial complex to join their evil alliance during the 1950s in return for access to this technology, and thus created both the modern deep state shadow government and the secret space programs – all of which has been kept from public knowledge. With the maniacal deep state politicians and generals controlling the nuclear arsenal, benevolent extraterrestrials stepped in to make sure that these nukes could not be used to destroy the Earth, and thereby causing severe repercussions throughout the galaxy.

So what is this game that Elizondo is playing? Is he truly trying to advance UFO disclosure by making it obvious that these UFOs, or at least the technology, comes from extraterrestrials? Or is he trying to advance the agenda of the deep state by creating confusion and fear of an extraterrestrial threat to the Earth, possibly setting up a deep state false flag alien invasion?

Former Pentagon official Lue Elizondo said the military has been seeing mysterious

“tic-tac” UFOs since 1950, possibly even earlier.

On his show, Tucker Carlson brought on Elizondo to discuss the military’s history with UFOs, asking what the Pentagon’s report really means.

“The Pentagon cannot say that UFOs are from a different solar system, but they can’t say they’re not. They can’t say they’re from China or Russia, but they can’t say they’re not,” Carlson said.

In the Pentagon’s report that top US officials were briefed on this week, US intelligence couldn’t offer an explanation for over 120 mysterious UFO sightings.

“It doesn’t sound like they can say much of anything,” Calrson said, turning his

questions over to Elizondo, a longtime Pentagon official who oversaw investigations of UFO sightings.

Elizondo used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain records that show the military has been monitoring UFOs since 1950, possibly even earlier.

“This isn’t some eye witness report from a civilian,” Elizondo said. “This is official government documentation from military personnel to very senior military brass.”

Elizondo said senior military personnel and scientists have spotted UFOs over US

military facilities on multiple occasions.
“The US government has finally admitted that this is not some sore of secret US technology,” he said. “But now, there is some wiggle room to say, ‘Well maybe it is some foreign adversarial technology.'”

Elizondo says the likely culprits would be either China or Russia, but doesn’t think either of them have the technological capabilities to conduct such advanced surveillance.

Russia shared much of its UFO information with the US following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Elizondo said.

“They shared a lot of their UFO information with us, and by the way, they were seeing the exact same thing in their skies that we were,” he said, eliminating Russia as a suspect.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Mainstream Media Using UFO Report to Stir Arms Race

June 19, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Caitlin Johnstone June 4, 2021 (consortiumnews.com)

• The New York Times has published an article on the leaked contents of the still anticipated U.S. government report on UFOs (see here). “The report determines that a vast majority of more than 120 (UFO) incidents over the past two decades did not originate from any American military or other advanced U.S. government technology,” the NY Times was told by the officials. “That determination would appear to eliminate the possibility that Navy pilots who reported seeing unexplained aircraft might have encountered programs the government meant to keep secret.”

• The NY Times also stated definitively that, “Intelligence officials believe at least some of the aerial phenomena could have been experimental technology from a rival power, most likely Russia or China. One senior official briefed on the intelligence said without hesitation that U.S. officials knew it was not American technology. The official said there was worry among intelligence and military officials that China or Russia could be experimenting with hypersonic technology.” Apparently, foreign adversaries have severely lapped American military technological development.

• Of course, the ‘senior government officials’ cited by the NY Times are anonymous, as usual. And of course, the narrative that the NY Times is promoting is convenient for imperialists and war profiteers who want to spur greater defense spending and the development of more intensive weapons to meet the perceived challenges of this new Cold War.

• The NY Times article didn’t hold back on the fear-mongering: “Russia has been investing heavily in hypersonics, believing the technology offers it the ability to evade American missile-defense technology. China has also developed hypersonic weaponry, and included it in military parades. If the phenomena were Chinese or Russian aircraft, officials said, that would suggest the two powers’ hypersonic research had far outpaced American military development.”

• This won’t be the last time we hear the imperial media warning us that UFOs may be a sign of a frightening gap in technology leaving the U.S. defenseless against far more powerful foreign foes. Tucker Carlson has been pushing this narrative for weeks now, demanding that the U.S. government do more to address the fact that “our military was completely outmatched technologically by whatever these (UFOs) were.” “UFOs, it turns out, are real,” said Carlson, “and whatever else they are, they’re a prima facie challenge to the United States military. They’re doing things the U.S. military does not allow, and they’re doing it with impunity.”

• Carlson had on his Fox News show military intelligence veteran Luis Elizondo, who claimed that the Senate UFO report will reveal “an intelligence failure on the part of the U.S. intel community on the level of 9/11.” “If there’s a foreign adversary that can put a nuclear warhead within moments over Washington, D.C., OK, that’s a problem,” Elizondo told Carlson.

• Will we now begin seeing this ‘arms race’ angle become the dominant aspect of this UFO story? It would certainly fit the pattern of the U.S. war machine and mass media promoting completely unverifiable allegations about foreign governments to justify further cold war escalations.

• In the early sixties, President John F. Kennedy falsely promoted the “missile gap” narrative, telling the public that the Soviet Union had surpassed the United States in nuclear weapons when he knew full well the U.S. nuclear arsenal had always far surpassed the U.S.S.R.’s in number, quality and deployment. But Kennedy used this hawkish narrative to win an election and advance the largest peacetime expansion of U.S. military power ever, leading directly to the events which gave rise to the Cuban Missile Crisis which came far closer to ending our world than most of us like to think about.

• This new Cold War that the U.S. is waging against Russia and China is insane. There is no valid reason our planet’s dominant powers cannot at the very least cease brandishing Armageddon weapons at each other and begin collaborating toward a better world. Reject the propagandists and Cold Warriors, no matter how elaborate or bizarre their manipulations become.

• [Editor’s Note] You can see the deep state’s fingerprints all over this NY Times article – and the Cold War fever it promotes. Now that the white hat military Alliance is effectively cleaning out the entrenched deep state scourge, the deep state is desperate for some sort of existential threat or false flag that will distract the public from the war between good vs evil that is currently raging behind the scenes. The evil deep state is trying very hard to make one last ditch effort to manufacture a threat of some sort (ie: nuclear war, famine, pandemic, alien invasion) that will allow them to step in and save us all, to reinforce their political control.

Of course the ‘Tic Tacs’ and ‘drones’ that the military is seeing come from the American military industrial complex using advanced extraterrestrial technology gleaned since the 1950s and recently patented by the US Navy. The deep state just want to turn it around and use it for their own ends, as they have been doing for the past seventy years. This type of deception is the ‘front line’ of the information war that being waged right now.

The New York Times has published an article on the contents of the hotly anticipated

**pyramid drone UFOs swarming a US Navy destroyer in 2019**

U.S. government report on UFOs, as per usual based on statements of anonymous officials, and as per usual promoting narratives that are convenient for imperialists and war profiteers.

Together with one voice, the anonymous U.S. officials and the “paper of record” — which is supposed to scrutinize U.S. officials — assure us definitively that the mysterious aerial phenomena that have reportedly been witnessed by military personnel are certainly not any kind of secret U.S. technology, but could totally be aliens and could definitely be a sign that the Russians or Chinese have severely lapped America’s lagging military development.

“The report determines that a vast majority of more than 120 incidents over the past

two decades did not originate from any American military or other advanced U.S. government technology,” NYT was reportedly told by the officials. “That determination would appear to eliminate the possibility that Navy pilots who reported seeing unexplained aircraft might have encountered programs the government meant to keep secret.

**‘Tic Tac’ UFO seen off of San Diego in 2004**

Oh well if the U.S. government has ruled out secret U.S. government weaponry programs, hot damn that’s good enough for me. Great journalism you guys.

One senior official said without hesitation that U.S. officials knew it was not American

technology.

He said there was worry among intelligence and military officials that China or Russia could be experimenting with hypersonic technology https://t.co/bgYtohKC9O
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) June 4, 2021

**China’s hypersonic ‘aircraft carrier killer’ missile**

“Intelligence officials believe at least some of the aerial phenomena could have been experimental technology from a rival power, most likely Russia or China,” the Times reports. “One senior official briefed on the intelligence said without hesitation that U.S. officials knew it was not American technology. He said there was worry among intelligence and military officials that China or Russia could be

experimenting with hypersonic technology.”

“Russia has been investing heavily in hypersonics, believing the technology offers it the ability to evade American missile-defense technology,” NYT adds. “China has also developed hypersonic weaponry, and included it in military parades. If the phenomena were Chinese or Russian aircraft, officials said, that would suggest the two powers’ hypersonic research had far outpaced American military development.”

The article goes on to describe how the U.S. military have been “unsettled” by aircraft moving and behaving in ways known technologies cannot explain. The implication of scary foreign adversaries having “outpaced American military development” to such an extent is of course that the U.S. military is going to require a far bigger budget with far more intensive weapons development.

This would be the same New York Times that has consistently supported all of the U.S. military’s devastating acts of mass murder around the world, by the way.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

$2.2 Billion Budget Boost for Space Force

June 8, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Sandra Erwin May 28, 2021 (spacenews.com)

• On May 28th, the Pentagon unveiled details of Administrator Biden’s funding request for the coming 2022 fiscal year that begins on October 1st. Biden is asking Congress to approve $6 trillion in federal spending. The defense budget proposal for 2022 is $715 billion. $17.4 billion of that amount earmarked for the US Space Force, which is $2.2 billion more than what Congress enacted in 2021. Space Force accounts for about 2.5% of total Defense Department spending.

• Much of the $2.2 billion in additional funding to Space Force was transferred from the Air Force, Navy and Army, to be used for new investments in space systems. “Competitors like China and Russia are challenging America’s advantage in space by aggressively developing offensive weapons to deny or destroy U.S. space capabilities in conflict,” the Pentagon said. The Space Force budget “funds capabilities for the contested domain of space”.

• The $17.4 billion request for the Space Force excludes $930 million for personnel costs that are funded in the Air Force’s budget. The Space Force is expected to grow by about 2,000 people in 2022. The budget funds 12,000 personnel in 2022, including 8,400 active-duty military.

• $3.4 billion of the Space Force’s budget will go toward operations: the organization of Space Force headquarters and field commands, doctrine development and professional military education. $20 million will go toward the establishment of a National Space Intelligence Center. The budget proposal increases Space Force funding for research and development from $10.5 billion last year to $11.3 billion. Procurement also grows from $2.3 billion to $2.8 billion in 2022.

• Funding for the National Security Space Launch program includes $1.4 billion for five missions, compared to $1 billion for three missions in 2021. There is also $239 million for launch-related research and development. The five missions planned for 2022 will be split between United Launch Alliance and SpaceX.

WASHINGTON — President Biden’s $715 billion defense budget proposal for 2022 includes $17.4 billion for the U.S. Space Force, about $2.2 billion more than what Congress enacted in 2021.

The proposed $715 billion defense budget is $11.3 billion more than what Congress appropriated in 2021.

The Pentagon on May 28 unveiled details of the president’s funding request for the coming fiscal year that begins Oct 1. The White House is asking Congress to approve $6 trillion in federal spending.

The Space Force accounts for about 2.5% of total Defense Department spending. The $2.2 billion increase sought for 2022 represents a significant boost for the smallest branch of the armed forces established 18 months ago.

The Pentagon said the $2.2 billion in additional funding sought for the Space Force includes new investments in space systems and much of this funding was transferred from the Air Force, Navy and Army.

The president’s budget “funds capabilities for the contested domain of space,” the Pentagon said in budget documents released May 28. “Competitors like China and Russia are challenging America’s advantage in space by aggressively developing offensive weapons to deny or destroy U.S. space capabilities in conflict.”

The $17.4 billion request for the Space Force does not include $930 million for personnel costs that are funded in the Air Force’s budget. The Space Force would grow by about 2,000 people in 2022. The budget funds 12,000 personnel in 2022, including 8,400 active-duty military.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

NASA Hails China Space Ambitions As ‘Unifying Force’

May 21, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Tom O’Conner May 5, 2021 (newsweek.com)

• On April 28th, China’s massive 18-story Long March 5B rocket roared out of the atmosphere to the flag waving cheers of the crowd and a symphony orchestra on the southern island Hainan province, carrying into orbit the core cabin module for the Tiangong modular space station (pictured above). (Note: After positioning the module in orbit, the 22.5 ton core stage of the spent rocket reentered the atmosphere and fell into the Indian Ocean on May 8th.)

• The People’s Liberation Army China Manned Space Engineering Office hailed the launch as an inauguration of “the third step” of the country’s human space exploration campaign. The first was to send a ‘taikonaut’ to and from space safely (as it did in 2003), and the second was to conduct extravehicular activity and orbital docking, tasks accomplished in 2008 and 2011.

• At this point, the Chinese have robotically gathered soil from, and planted a flag on the Moon. The China National Space Administration even landed the Chang’e 4 unmanned mission on the ‘yet untouched’ the far side of the Moon. But with the two temporary space labs comprising the beginning of the Tiangong modular space station, China can lay claim to the only other space station in Earth’s orbit, besides the International Space Station (ISS). Even the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs has nine projects already lined up for the Tiangong space station. But China has also announced plans for an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a scientific base either on or orbiting the Moon. Russia signed onto the ILRS in March, and put out a call for more international partners to join.

• Meanwhile, Beijing’s expanding economic, political and military influence has led to a significant deterioration of its relationship with Washington. Concerns about China’s business practices linger among U.S. policymakers. During his recent nomination hearing to head NASA before the Senate Commerce Committee, former Florida Senator Bill Nelson said, “There is a threat China poses in basically getting a lot of our secrets and getting a lot of our technology and invading a lot of our privacy.” The now head of NASA continued, “Now when you take that global concern and bring it to the space program, then you have to be concerned about the same thing.”

• Today, the International Space Station hosts personnel from the U.S., Russia, the European Union, Canada and Japan. But Chinese personnel are banned from ISS by the US Congress, citing intellectual property theft and development of an intercontinental ballistic missile program. It would take special consent of the FBI for NASA to even be allowed to participate with the Chinese space administration.

• In a statement sent to Newsweek, NASA insisted that it welcomes the strides made by its Chinese counterpart, viewing them as a mutual gain for all of mankind in spite of the terrestrial tensions between the two top powers. “NASA uses space and science as a unifying force. Exploration is a global endeavor – each milestone contributing to humanity’s understanding of the universe. And we look forward to China’s contributions to increased scientific understanding.”

• [Editor’s Note] NASA is a “unifying force?” “Exploration is a global endeavor?” In 1963, two weeks after John F. Kennedy expressed support for this same ‘unifying force’ between NASA and the Soviet Union, the deep state murdered him. Now deep state-controlled NASA claims that it wants to set aside our geopolitical tensions and join together in space harmony, even though NASA is legally prohibited from doing so. But publications like Newsweek report it and so it magically becomes hard news, readily defended by the likes of Drudge and Snopes.

The reality is that the deep state has worked hard to keep anyone from going to the Moon since the Apollo Moon landings’ dog and pony show that came to an end in 1972. Behind the scenes, however, the deep state elite developed highly advanced secret space programs, establishing trade with other races and civilizations throughout the galaxy. They want the people on Earth to be obedient, mind-controlled economic slaves. They want us to believe that propellant-fueled rockets, digging up dirt on the Moon and Mars, and putting two space stations into orbit is the extent of our space technology.

Since WWII, the Western deep state has successfully gained control of nearly all of our planet’s banking and financial system, political system, mass media, social media, oil industry, medical and pharmaceutical industries, high tech, and our expansion into space. But the deep state has never managed to control Russia. And it pisses them off. This is why Russia has been the sworn enemy and scapegoat for every false flag or political scandal instigated by the deep state since their fabricated “Cold War” began.

Regardless of the so-called “news” reported by Newsweek, NASA and the deep state are not at all thrilled about Russia and China pushing past the institutional lethargy to resume our planet’s natural development, which has been strangled by the deep state’s occulted cabal since the time of Tesla. But it is this innate human desire to continue to push forward that has inspired the global military white hat Alliance, led by US military patriots, to embrace the groundswell of an awakening populist and move against the a thoroughly corrupted and evil deep state. We will soon succeed in removing the negative and greed-driven deep state completely from power so that our planet can move ahead toward a space-faring future, positive interaction with our galactic neighbors, and the release of advanced technologies that will utterly transform our society.

There’s a new major player in the final frontier, but the United States’ space agency under President

Joe Biden sees an upside to its top competitor’s success, even if U.S. scientists remain formally banned from cooperating with their Chinese counterparts.

For decades, the realm of outer space travel was dominated by the U.S. and Russia, a reality set by their Cold War-era space race that ultimately helped fuel historic developments now also being advanced by a range of countries across the globe, including in Europe, India, Israel, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

No country’s rapid rise has grabbed as much global attention, however, as that of China, whose

accelerated ascendance into space mirrors its lightning growth back on Earth. Beijing’s expanding economic, political and military influence has led to a significant deterioration of its relationship with Washington, which has enjoyed unmatched superpower status since the fall of the Soviet Union.

As China celebrates the landmark launch of the first module to its planned space station, NASA is welcoming the strides made by its Chinese counterpart, viewing them as a mutual gain for all of mankind in spite of the terrestrial tensions between the two top powers.

“NASA uses space and science as a unifying force,” the agency said in a statement sent to Newsweek. “Exploration is a global endeavor, each milestone contributing to humanity’s understanding of the universe, and we look forward to China’s contributions to increased scientific understanding.”

China’s planned Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) large modular space station came closer to reality over the weekend in the southern island Hainan province where a massive 18-story LongMarch 5B rocket roared out of the atmosphere, successfully bringing the Tianhe (Harmony of the Heavens) core cabin module into orbit. Citizens waving national flags cheered on and the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra performed.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

UFOs Have Disabled America’s Nuclear Weapons Says Elizondo

May 13, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Vinod DSouza April 28, 2021 (ibtimes.sg)

• Luis Elizondo claims that extraterrestrials are observing our planet and are specifically targeting only the nuclear capabilities of the US military. He says that countries such as China and Russia have a secret pact with aliens giving them control over the alien technology. Elizondo warned that such countries could strike the heart of US anytime with the help of their “foreign adversarial technology”.

• Elizondo, a former intelligence officer who worked as a director of the Pentagon’s UFO research program known as the ‘Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program’ (ATTIP) from 2007 to 2012, revealed his team had discovered that UFOs have targeted US nuclear technology to disabled US military weapons. Elizondo claims that the government is planning to lift the lid on aliens and reveal the “reality” of UFOs to the American public soon.

• Alien observers claim that the UFO report ordered by President Donald Trump (that is due to be released on June 1st) will contain vital information about super-smart aliens visiting the Earth. Tim McMillan, a former Police Lieutenant turned UFO investigator, has questioned why the Senate Select Intelligence Committee asked Trump to sign off on the UFO report so urgently, raising assumptions that it contains real life military encounters with aliens.

• ”I think for me the most concerning thing are those incidents that involve our nuclear equities,” Elizondo said in a recent press conference. ”There seems to be a very distinct congruency between [UAP/UFO] activity and our nuclear technology.” The New York Post quotes Elizondo as saying: “Whether it be propulsion or weapon systems or whatnot…we’ve actually had some of our nuclear capabilities disabled by these things.” He people to be prepared if there’s an imminent attack by external forces.

• [Editor’s Note] For a century, negative extraterrestrial groups such as the Draco Reptilians, the Anunnaki and the Orion group have controlled the Earth’s population with an iron grip. They chose to plunder the Earth’s economic and human resources rather than to destroy the world, which they certainly could have done. If nuclear bases were in fact disarmed, it most likely would have been done worldwide by the more benevolent extraterrestrial groups who understand that a nuclear holocaust on Earth would reverberate negatively throughout the rest of the galaxy. They would have done so in the name of peace, not invasion.

Is the real reason for Tom Delonge and Luis Elizondo’s ‘To the Stars Academy’, which works closely with the US Air Force to orchestrate a slow drip of ‘limited’ UFO/extraterrestrial disclosure, to stir up public fear of a false flag alien attack on Earth as predicted by Wernher von Braun in 1974, and recently publicized by Steven Greer? And to throw in perceived threats from China and Russia for good measure. (see Dr. Michael Salla’s recent article: “Is an Alien False Flag Event Coming?”) The deep state has their back against the wall and are losing control. This would be the ideal time to roll out such a false flag event as a last ditch effort by the deep state to wrest control back from the white hat Alliance. And Elizondo may just be helping to lay the groundwork.

Former US intelligence officer Luis Elizondo claims that America’s nuclear weapons have been disabled by UFOs and sent out a warning that countries such as China and Russia have control over the alien technology.

Elizondo rang warning bells fearing that other countries could strike the heart of US anytime with the help of their “foreign adversarial technology,” hinting the countries have a secret pact with aliens.

Luis Elizondo previously worked as a director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (ATTIP), which is a secret and undisclosed Pentagon team that reportedly studied UFOs, between 2007 and 2012.

He stated that there’s an extraterrestrial observation occurring on our planet and the powers are specifically targeting only the nuclear capabilities of the US, raising suspicions that other countries might be involved and equipped with alien technology.

Elizondo revealed that his team had found ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ (UAP) surrounding

the nuclear weapons, and unknown technologies, which he claims to be UFO powers, targeted US nuclear technology and disabled it.

The ex intelligence officer also claimed that the government is planning to lift the lid on aliens and reveal the “reality” of UFOs to the American public soon.

”I think for me the most concerning thing are those incidents that involve our nuclear equities,” Elizondo said in a press conference. ”There seems to be a very distinct congruency between UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), associated UAP activity and and our nuclear technology.”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

China, Russia and the New Space Race

April 27, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by James Stavridis April 12, 2021 (bloomberg.com)

• Russia and China are contesting the US militarily, from the Arctic to the Baltics to the South China Sea. A few weeks ago, the two nations agreed to build a joint research station on the Moon. In an online statement, the China National Space Administration said the base would be open to “all interested countries and international partners”. But if you look at recent Russian and Chinese space operations, they have a distinctly military bent. And the idea of general political and military cooperation between the two is gaining speed, from massive war games on the Siberian border to warship deployments in the eastern Mediterranean and the North Atlantic.

• Washington needs to understand the strategic approach being taken by both of these US rivals in space. The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the lesser-known Secure World Foundation have recently released reports highlighting a cluster of Russian activities that have caught the attention of the US intelligence community. These include significant antisatellite missile tests throughout 2020; flights of Russian spacecraft very near US spy satellites; tests of projectile launches in space; and fraying ties with the US in civilian and scientific space cooperation.

• As the supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, this article’s writer, James Stavridis, spent a good deal of time with the then-Russian ambassador to the alliance, Dmitry Rogozin. Rogozin went on to serve as deputy prime minister in charge of all Russian defense and space industries. Since 2018, Rogozin has been the head of Roscosmos, the equivalent of NASA. Given his strong defense background, Rogozin brings a military thrust to the Russian space program.

• Ten years ago, Rogozin told Stavridis that Russia’s military future was in space. In 2014, Rogozin mocked the US space program on Twitter as needing a trampoline to bring astronauts to the International Space Station. After a successful commercial launch by SpaceX in 2020, Elon Musk tweeted back, “The trampoline is working.”

• China doesn’t have the decades-long history that Russia has in the space domain, but the Chinese are accelerating rapidly. China had landed a lunar module on the Moon, returning soil samples. It launched a Mars probe that is currently orbiting the red planet. And it has plans to build a Moon base, along with Russia. All of this is part of an emerging “space culture” in China.

• Chinese efforts in space have an increasingly military feel to them as well. China has 363 satellites in space, second only to the U.S. (with more than 1,300). The Chinese have been conducting anti-satellite tests for nearly two decades, including missiles and lasers. They have devoted considerable effort to sharpening offensive cybertools that can go after US space assets. The Chinese have also fired more rockets into space than any other country for three years straight.

• As Russia and China come together to operate in the cosmos, their overall military and strategic cooperation will increase as well. The fledgling US Space Force must be part of a US response. America needs a small but elite US Cyber Force working alongside our allies, much as China and Russia intend to do. And Washington needs a coherent plan for private-public cooperation and to prioritize defense dollars for space.

• [Editor’s Note] The author of this article, retired Admiral James Stavridis, is intent on associating Russia with China’s CCP. And where is he now that he has retired from the US Navy? He is an operating executive with the Carlyle Group, a notorious bastion of the deep state elite trying to stoke a war between the US, China and Russia. China has invited “all interested countries and international partners” to join them in the development of a Moon base. After the deep state stopped utilizing Russian space rockets to bring Americans to the International Space Station in favor of their darling, Elon Musk, why wouldn’t Russia be interested in another Moon program? And didn’t the Russian navy just work with the US Navy to bottle up the Evergreen container ship ‘Ever Given’ in the Suez Canal, which reportedly contained not only trafficked humans but weapons of mass destruction?

What is really going on is a war between the deep state and non-compliant Alliance countries like Russia. Deep state shills like Admiral Stavridis only want to demonize Russia and stir up World War III to give the deep state a path to total control over the planet and the solar system. Unfortunately, Administrator Biden is also a deep state lackey who supports this evil agenda. It is up to the white hats in the US military to excise the deep state trolls from its ranks, completely remove the deep state from power, and set the planet on a course of peace and prosperity – including our expansion into space to stand alongside our space cousins – which the deep state has actively prevented since WWII.

Russia and China are looking hard at how they should allocate defense spending to

contest the U.S. militarily, from the Arctic to the Baltics to the South China Sea. Near the top of both national shopping lists are military operations and assets in space, and the most intriguing aspect of their decision to look to the stars is that they are going to do it together.

Most notably, the two nations agreed a few weeks ago to build a joint research station on the moon. In an online statement, the China National Space Administration said the base would be open to “all interested countries and international partners,” which sounds relatively benign. But if you look at recent Russian and Chinese space operations, they have a distinctly military bent. And the idea of general political and military cooperation between the two is gaining speed, from massive war games on the Siberian border to warship deployments in the eastern Mediterranean and the North Atlantic.

What should the U.S. be doing?

First, Washington needs to clearly understand the strategic approach being taken by both of these rivals, who are now peer competitors, at least in space.

We should begin with Russia, which has had a very long and successful track record in space operations dating back to Soviet times. The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the lesser-known Secure World Foundation have recently released reports highlighting a cluster of Russian activities that have caught the attention of the U.S. intelligence community.

These include significant antisatellite missile tests throughout 2020; so-called close aboard flights of Russian spacecraft very near U.S. spy satellites; tests of projectile launches in space; and fraying ties with the U.S. in civilian and scientific space cooperation. (The two nations have previously worked together closely, especially on the International Space Station.)

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Russia Expects Paris to Back Initiatives on Preventing Outer Space Arms Race

April 26, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Mihail Metcel April 11, 2021 (tass.com)

• In an interview with the Russian News Agency TASS on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first human space flight, Russian Ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov said that Moscow expects Paris to support its initiatives aimed at non-placement of arms in outer space.

• “Moscow and Paris on the whole share the need to ensure the safety of space activities and their implementation in accordance with the norms of international law,” says Meshkov. “This concerns the prevention of an arms race in outer space and the need to prevent turning it into a new arena of confrontation.”

• Part of Russia’s diplomatic initiative is “launching talks on the treaty on preventing the placement of arms in outer space.” The draft document was submitted by Russia and China,” said Meshkov. “This also refers to the commitments on the non-use of force or a threat to use force against space objects, agreeing measures on increasing trust in space. It’s also important to adopt global political commitments on no first placement of arms in outer space.”

• “We count on the support of these initiatives by Paris,” Meshkov stressed.

**Russian Ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov**

PARIS, April 11. /TASS/. Moscow expects Paris to support its initiatives aimed at non-placement of arms in outer space, Russian Ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov said in an interview with TASS on occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first human space flight.

According to him, “Moscow and Paris on the whole share the need to ensure the safety of space activities and their implementation in accordance with the norms of international law.” “This concerns the prevention of an arms race in outer space and the need to prevent turning it into a new arena of confrontation,” the diplomat said.

Russia is calling on its foreign partners, including France, to back its initiatives, the diplomat said. “Among them is launching talks on the treaty on preventing the placement of arms in outer space [the draft document was submitted by Russia and China – TASS],” Meshkov explained. “This also refers to the commitments on the non-use of force or a threat to use force against space objects, agreeing measures on increasing trust in space. It’s also important to adopt global political commitments on no first placement of arms in outer space.” “We count on the support of these initiatives by Paris,” he stressed.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Russia’s Outer Space Agreement With U.S.A.

April 18, 2021
ExoNews Editor

April 3, 2021 (presstv.com)

• In a move to avoid a new era of arms race in the outer space, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved the extension of the ‘Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes’ agreement with the United States. A Russian press service said: “The extension of the agreement meets both countries’ interests and will facilitate the effective implementation of joint space projects.”

• The treaty was originally signed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and US President George H.W. Bush on June 17, 1992. The agreement as extended will be in place until the end of 2030.

• Under the agreement, world powers are not allowed to place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in outer space orbit and must avoid harmful contamination of space. Outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means, according to the document.

• US President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to establish the Space Force, calling for American “dominance in space.” Space Force also became a full member of the US intelligence community. Following suit, both Russia and China are developing similar military capabilities as they seek to field the technology and erode America’s military dominance. Moscow and Beijing have proposed a treaty that prohibits the deployment of ground-based and space-based weapons targeting satellites in the space and are pushing Washington to sign it.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved the extension of the Exploration and Use

of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes, the cabinet’s press service said in a statement on Saturday.

“The agreement …on cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes will be in place until December 31, 2030,” it said.

“The extension of the agreement meets both countries’ interests and will facilitate the effective implementation of joint space projects.”

**President Trump creating Space Force**

The treaty was originally signed by then Russian President Boris Yeltsin and US President George W. Bush on June 17, 1992, in Washington.

Under the agreement, world powers are not allowed to place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or in the outer space and must

avoid harmful contamination of space.

The outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means, according to the document.

The administration of former US President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to establish the Space Force – the first new US military branch in 72 years – calling for his country’s “dominance in space.”

The Treaty, the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space and of the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects (PPWT), bans deployment of “any weapons in outer space.”

The PPWT signatories 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.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

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.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

US & Russia Discuss How to Avoid Tensions in Space

April 10, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Jacqueline Feldscher March 24, 2021 (politico.com)

• Despite the fact that the two nations’ civilian space programs work closely together on the International Space Station, the US and Russia have had multiple skirmishes in space. In February 2020, Chief of Space Operations General Jay Raymond announced that a pair of Russian satellites was following a US space satellite too closely in orbit. In July, Raymond condemned a Russian weapons test designed to blow up assets in orbit.

• Space Force leaders have emphasized the importance of drafting international norms of behavior in space to ensure all nations can operate safely. Space Force’s Maj. Gen. DeAnna Burt said that officials from the Pentagon and State Department are drafting language to send to the U.N. on responsible space behavior.

• On March 23rd, at Washington’s request, representatives from the US and Russia held an online video meeting to discuss responsible behaviors in space. It is unclear, however, who from the US participated in the discussion with Russia. A senior Biden administration official said, “It is a shared interest of all nations to act responsibly in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of outer space activities.”

• The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement saying that the video meeting covered “a wide range of issues related to the security of space activities.” Both Russia and the US say they want to hold future meetings to make progress on the topic. “We look forward to future discussions to build mutual trust with Russia and other space-faring nations to work toward responsible norms of behaviors in space,” the unnamed senior administration official said.

Representatives from the U.S. and Russia met on Tuesday to discuss responsible

behaviors in space, a senior administration official told POLITICO.

Washington requested the meeting, the official said, adding that the discussion was “at a technical level.”

Tensions in orbit: The U.S. and Russia have had multiple skirmishes in space, despite the fact that the two nations’ civilian space programs work closely together on the International Space Station. In February 2020, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond announced that a pair of Russian satellites was closely following a U.S. space satellite in orbit, a behavior he called “unusual and disturbing.”

More recently, Raymond condemned a Russian test of a weapon in July that is designed to blow up assets in orbit.

Space Force leaders have emphasized the importance of drafting international norms of behavior in space to ensure all nations can operate safely. Maj. Gen. DeAnna Burt, the commander of U.S. Space Command’s combined force space component, told Space News last month that officials from the Pentagon and State Department are drafting language to send to the U.N. on responsible space behavior.

The meeting: It’s unclear who from the U.S. participated in the discussion with Russia.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Space Force Weighing Options to Space Attacks

March 12, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Rachel S. Cohen March 3, 2021 (airforcemag.com)

• During a National Press Club event on March 3rd, Chief of Space Operations General John W. “Jay” Raymond said that U.S. officials are trying to hash out the ground rules for space combat. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer for what could be considered an act of war or a ‘proportional response’. “I think it depends on the strategic context that’s going on in the world,” said Raymond.

• There’s no such thing as a “space war,” Raymond said. “It’s just war. How nations might choose to conduct operations in that war, that conflict, either on the sea, or in the air, or on the ground, or now in space, … is just integrated into that larger strategic conflict.”

• “You can’t put weapons of mass destruction in orbit, and you can’t militarize a planet, a celestial body. Other than that, there’s no rules,” Raymond said. That ambiguity may complicate global discussions of norms of behavior in outer space. Space Force is trying to drive that conversation to constrain bad behavior and shape a common understanding of what’s acceptable on orbit. “I’m not naive to think, if there was a set of norms of behavior, that everybody’s going to follow them,” said Raymond.

• “The challenge for space strategists is to anticipate how this gradual shift from… information operations to physical operations will proceed,” a recent report on space defense from the Center for Strategic and International Security (CSIS) pointed out. “Further analysis and gaming are needed to explore… when it is advantageous (or not) to do nothing in response to an attack or threat of attack.”

• Though Space Force is quick to note various technologies in development by China, Russia and others that could look to damage U.S. assets, Raymond declined to talk about what offensive and defensive capabilities his service has in the works. The CSIS report recommended that Space Force own “non-kinetic active defenses, such as onboard jamming and lasing systems, … to thwart kinetic attacks against high-value satellites.”

• “A physical seizure capability should also be explored,” the report added, “that could double as a (non-aggressive) inspector and on-orbit servicing satellite,” such as the Russian spacecraft which Moscow said was an inspector satellite and test-fired an anti-satellite weapon in space last year.

• Raymond noted that Space Force will debut its plan for streamlining the Pentagon’s space acquisition agencies in “another week or so,” and that he expects to see a Space Force dress uniform prototype in about a month. Officials will finalize which parts of the Army and Navy departments will transfer to the Space Force in the next couple of months.

• Despite less discussion on the subject from the Biden White House, the federal government’s renewed emphasis on space superiority and exploration hasn’t waned, Raymond said. “This is not a political issue,” he stressed. “This is about our national security and the foundation of all instruments of national power, and I look forward to continuing our efforts to build this service.”

U.S. officials are trying to hash out the ground rules for extraterrestrial combat more than a year after standing up a Space Force to fend off threats on orbit.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer for what actions by a satellite could be considered an act of war. Proportional response in a war that extends to space will depend on a broader context than earlier conflicts where the U.S. might respond to a barrage of rockets with its own airstrike, the Space Force’s top general said March 3. The U.S. could counter a satellite attack with a strike in cyberspace or against terrestrial facilities, for example.

“I think it depends on the strategic context that’s going on in the world,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond said during an event hosted by the National Press Club.

There’s no such thing as a “space war,” he said—it’s just war.
“How nations might choose to conduct operations in that war, that conflict, either on the sea, or in the air, or on the ground, or now in space, … is just integrated into that larger strategic conflict,” Raymond said.

That ambiguity may complicate global discussions of norms of behavior in outer space as more countries grow their civil, military, and industrial presence away from Earth. The Space Force is trying to drive that conversation to constrain bad behavior and shape a common understanding of what’s acceptable on orbit.

“You can’t put weapons of mass destruction in orbit, and you can’t militarize a planet, a celestial body. Other than that, there’s no rules,” Raymond said. “I’m not naive to think, if there was a set of norms of behavior, that everybody’s going to follow them.”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Poll Shows Public’s Priorities in Space

March 9, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Marcia Smith February 25, 2021 (spacepolicyonline.com)

• A survey of 2,200 American adults conducted February 12-15, 2021 by ‘Morning Consult’ ranked space research and exploration 25th in a list of 26 priorities for the Biden Administration. It appears that the public wants the government to focus its space research agenda on monitoring Earth’s climate, and not human exploration of the Moon and Mars. But a he same time, the public also wants the U.S. to keep its competitive edge in space over countries like Russia and China. Ranking the most threatening countries in space, respondents viewed China the biggest threat to the U.S at 52 percent, Russia next at 45 percent, North Korea at 34 percent, and Iran at 30 percent.

• With regard to activities in space, monitoring the Earth’s climate system is the top priority 35 percent of those surveyed. In second place is monitoring asteroids that might threaten Earth and third was developing technologies that could be used broadly, not only for space. At the bottom of the list of 10 possible priorities was sending civilians to the Moon or Mars, which was a priority for only 6 percent of the people polled. The public is slightly more amenable to sending professional astronauts to the Moon or to Mars, but not civilians.

• Regarding NASA’s Artemis program aiming to return people to the Moon and go on to Mars, only 33 percent of the participants rate the Moon goal as a top or important priority and 24 percent for Mars. When considering Jared Isaacman’s proposal to hold a lottery for people to join him on Inspiration4 in a space flight (see previous ExoArticle), 58 percent said they were unlikely to travel to space even if price was no object. Most of those polled supported Biden’s decision to keep the US Space Force many said they did not know as they felt they weren’t “up to speed” on the government’s space efforts.

A new poll from Morning Consult finds that the public wants the government to focus its space research agenda on monitoring Earth’s climate, not human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Overall it ranked space research and exploration 25th in a list of 26 priorities for the Biden Administration. However, it also wants the United States to keep its competitive edge in space over countries like Russia and China.

The top priority was monitoring Earth’s climate system for 35 percent of those surveyed, while it was “important, but lower priority” for 28 percent, “not too important of a priority” for 18 percent, “should not be done” for 7 percent, and “don’t know/no opinion” for 11 percent.

Second was monitoring asteroids that might threaten Earth and third was developing technologies that could be used broadly, not only for space.

At the bottom of the list of 10 possible priorities was sending civilians to the Moon or Mars. That was a top priority for just 6 percent, important for 18 percent, not too important for 39 percent, should not be done for 24 percent, and 12 percent did not know or had no opinion.

Ranking just above that was sending “astronauts” to the Moon or to Mars, which apparently refers to professional astronauts as compared to the general public. NASA is embarked on the Artemis program with commercial and international partners to return people to the Moon and go on to Mars, although according to this survey only 33 percent rate the Moon goal as a top or important priority and 24 percent for Mars.

Also of interest, especially as entrepreneur Jared Isaacman is testing the waters of public interest in flying into space by choosing a person by lottery to join him on Inspiration4, of those surveyed 58 percent said they were unlikely to travel to space themselves even if price was no object.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Russia and China Ready to Sign Deal to Build First Moon Base, Snubbing US

March 6, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Olivia Burke February 18, 2021 (thesun.co.uk)

• On February 11th, the Russian Federation announced plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with China to collaborate on a series of International Lunar Research Stations (ILRS) or ‘Moon bases’, as proposed by the Chinese. Both countries will carry out preparatory research throughout the 2020s with the aim of establishing Moon bases at the Moon’s south pole in the early 2030s. The bases will initially be populated by robots and will provide a long-term presence on the Moon for short crewed missions in the early 2030s, and a longer-term sustained human presence anticipated to begin between 2036-2045. The U.S. has not been asked to participate.

• The Chinese and Russians plan to use the lunar base to aid the “construction and operation of human’s first sharing platform in the lunar south pole, supporting long-term, large-scale scientific exploration, technical experiments and development and utilization of lunar resources.” The robotic base will potentially incorporate the expertise of other nations as well, who will contribute their own spacecrafts.

• Pand Zhihao, a former researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology, praised, “Russia’s expertises, including liquid oxygen kerosene engine technology as well as a complete, world-beating system for astronaut training, will all no doubt accelerate the program’s advancement.” Russia’s state corporation for space activities, Roscosmos, said the official announcement set to coincide with the Global Space Exploration Conference in 2021, held in St. Petersburg.

• Humans have not set foot on the Moon since the NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. The Americans have been planning to resume settlement of the Moon under the Artemis Accords, pledging to send astronauts back there by 2024. The Russians, however, do not favor the Artemis Accords because it proposes a global legal framework for mining on the Moon, which the Russians liken to colonialism. Roscosmos’ deputy general director for international cooperation, Sergey Saveliev, remarked, “There have already been examples in history when one country decided to start seizing territories in its (own) interest — everyone remembers what came of it.”

• It is also believed that Russia was reluctant to back the Artemis Accords plan due to the Lunar Gateway element – a small orbiting space station and communication hub similar to the ISS. U.S. legislation implemented in 2011 prohibits China from participating with the International Space Station partnership. And it is thought that the Trump Administration further isolated the U.S. from its international allies by unilaterally creating the Space Force.

• NASA’s Artemis Accords have the cooperation and support of Australia, Canada, England, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, and the UAE. “The Artemis Accords have driven China and Russia toward increased cooperation in space out of fear and necessity,” said former Congressional legislative director Elya Taichman.

• China made history in 2019 by becoming the first country to land on the dark side of the Moon. The European Space Agency is said to be closely monitoring the ILRS program in anticipation of joining. It is feared that a China-Russia-European consortium could knock NASA off the top spot as the international leader of space exploration.

RUSSIA and China are joining forces as they prepare to sign a historic deal to build the first moon base after they snubbed the US.

The two countries are to collaborate on the international lunar structure, which was thought up by China – the latest build in the space-race against America.

The purpose of the International Lunar Research Stations (ILRS), is to create a long-term robotic presence on the Moon by the start of the next decade, before eventually establishing a sustained human presence.

An Order of the Government of the Russian Federation detailing the scheme was published on February 11, but the “date to sign the above mentioned MoU has not been determined yet and is currently discussed with the Chinese partners.”

Humans have not set foot on the moon since December 1972, when Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan made tracks on it during an

Apollo 17 mission.

Both countries will carry out the research, beginning with China’s upcoming Chang’e-6, -7, and -8 missions and Russia’s Luna 27 probe.

They plan to use the lunar base to aid the “construction and operation of human’s first sharing platform in the lunar south pole, supporting long-term, large-scale scientific exploration, technical experiments and development and utilisation of lunar resources.”

China and Russia plan that in the early 2030s, the ILRS development will theoretically provide a base for long-term robotic presence on the Moon with the potential for short crewed missions.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Space Force Exists to Meet Threats in Space Domain

February 13, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by David Vergun January 22, 2021 (defense.gov)

• Speaking at a National Security Space Association “Space Time” online event on January 22nd, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General John E. Hyten characterized the US Space Force as ‘critical’ to national security, given the threats to US access and capability in space posed by Russia and China. Critical space assets include GPS; missile warning; reconnaissance; and position, navigation and timing.

• “Russia and China are building capabilities to challenge us in space because if they can challenge us in space, …they can challenge us as a nation,” Hyten said. “Therefore, it is our responsibility as leaders of the defense enterprise to make sure that we continue to educate the population about the threats that we face and, then put forth recommendations to deal with those threats in a rapid, responsive way” – with emphasis on agility and adaptability.

• Hyten notes that Russia and China are both building antisatellite weapons and other military space assets at an alarmingly fast rate. As a result, the Pentagon has to go just as quickly in defining joint requirements and delivering capable systems to counter the threat. And in doing so, “you have to accept a certain amount of risk”.

• Hyten says there is bipartisan support for the Space Force, and he expects the newest service, along with Space Command, to continue to make great strides in the new administration.

Threats by Russia and China to deny U.S. access and capability in space make the Space Force critical to national security, said the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten, spoke at an online National Security Space Association “Space Time” event today.

Critical space assets include GPS; missile warning; reconnaissance; and position, navigation and timing.

“Russia and China are building capabilities to challenge us in space because if they can challenge us in space, they understand as dependent as we are in space capabilities that they can challenge us as a nation,” Hyten said.

“Therefore, it is our responsibility as leaders of the defense enterprise to make sure that we continue to educate the population about the threats that we face and, then, put forth recommendations to deal with those threats in a rapid, responsive way,” he said.

In a time of conflict, DOD must deny adversaries access to space while maintaining its own freedom to maneuver in that domain, he mentioned.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Building a 21st-Century Space Force

January 2, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by John W. Raymond December 20, 2020 (theatlantic.com)

• Just after World War II, the US military determined a need for a new independent Air Force military branch to compete with the Soviet Union in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles and reconnaissance satellites, and opening the door for space exploration. Employing a lean, focused team, the US Air Force’s unique culture, identity, and focus allowed its leadership to envision and develop crucial technologies, including stealth, smart weapons and precise global navigation.

• In the past five years, the number of active satellites in orbit has grown from 1,250 to 3,400. By 2023, there will be about 5,000 active satellites orbiting the Earth. The Satellite Industry Association estimated the 2019 global space economy at $366 billion, and Morgan Stanley projects that revenues could top $1 trillion by 2040.

• During this period of explosive growth, Russia and China have made obvious their intention to challenge American preeminence in commercial and military space, raising the prospect of war beginning in, or extending into, space. Early in 2020, Russia positioned one of its satellites dangerously close to an American satellite and then instructed it to execute a series of provocative and unsafe maneuvers. By the summer, that Russian satellite backed away, released a target, and then fired a projectile at that target as a raw display of space combat power. We are still dealing with the fallout from China’s own 2007 anti-satellite test, which left a cloud of space debris that still must be carefully tracked to avoid collision with a wide array of spacecraft, including the International Space Station.

• To deal with these challenges, the United States created a 21st-century military branch, the Space Force. Only by staying lean, agile, and tightly focused can Space Force succeed. Speed is a hallmark of our deliberately lean new service to rapidly design, test, and employ new technologies and innovations. Space Force headquarters at the Pentagon will have about 600 military and civilian members in a building that houses more than 20,000 Defense Department employees. We’ve removed several layers of command structure and bureaucracy, and moved leaders closer to the front lines to shorten communication pathways. This is especially important for a service so heavily reliant on technology.

• Space Force’s creation came one year after the Pentagon crafted a new National Defense Strategy designed to pivot toward ‘great-power competition’, and away from the counterterrorism focus of the past two decades. Space Force’s goal is to enhance American military power as space systems assume an ever-greater role in the missions of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard which depend on space for navigation and communication to strike targets with precision and lethality. By staying lean and focused, Space Force can address the challenges that lie ahead, out-competing adversaries, deterring conflict, and keeping Americans safe.

• The article’s writer, General John W. Raymond, is the first chief of space operations for the United States Space Force.

Early in 2020, Russia positioned one of its satellites dangerously close to an American satellite and then instructed it to execute a series of provocative and unsafe maneuvers. This summer, that satellite backed away, released a target, and then conducted a weapons test, firing a projectile at that target. This raw display of space combat power was carefully designed as an act of intimidation, right out of the 1950s Soviet playbook.

Over the past five years, space has become a contested commercial and military realm. During that time,

the number of active satellites in orbit has grown from 1,250 to 3,400. By 2023, there will be about 5,000 active satellites orbiting the Earth. The Satellite Industry Association estimated the 2019 global space economy at $366 billion, and Morgan Stanley projects that revenues could top $1 trillion by 2040. During this period of explosive growth, Russia and China have made obvious their intention to challenge American preeminence in commercial and military space and to prevent the U.S. from using its space capabilities in crisis and conflict, raising the prospect of war beginning in, or extending into, space. We are still dealing with the fallout from China’s 2007 anti-satellite test, which left a cloud of space debris that even today must be carefully tracked to avoid collision with a wide array of spacecraft, including the International Space Station. The consequences of a full-blown war in space would be far worse.

A year ago, to deal with these challenges, the United States created its first new independent military branch in more than half a century. The U.S. Space Force, which I am privileged to lead, is a new kind of service. The Space Force headquarters at the Pentagon will have about 600 military and civilian members in a building that houses more than 20,000 Defense Department employees. Only by staying lean, agile, and tightly focused on our mission can we succeed in protecting the United States.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Former Senator Harry Reid Says US Government is Covering Up UFOs

January 1, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by John Vibes December 19, 2020 (anewspost.com)

• Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (pictured above) is the Congressman credited with initiating the $22 million pentagon UFO research program, the ‘Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program’ in 2007. So he’s had an interest in the UFO topic for a long time. In the documentary titled “The Phenomenon,” Reid said that UFOs and potential alien activity have been covered up by the government for years. “Why the federal government all these years has covered up, put brake pads on everything, stopped it, I think it’s very, very bad for our country,” Reid says.

• When asked again about UFOs in a recent interview, Reid said, “Do we have all the answers? Absolutely not. But at least we know that thousands of people have reported these unusual occurrences over the decades. And as I have said, we cannot ignore what’s going on. Russia, China and France are all working on this. And I hope that we will pick up the ball and continue to work on this.”

• Regarding video footage taken of UFOs engaging with US Navy aircraft pilots, flying around 30,000 feet in the air at hypersonic speeds and showing no visible engines or exhaust plumes, Reid said, “I’m happy that the Pentagon now allows its pilots to report these unusual occurrences. In the past, pilots have been afraid to acknowledge them because it could hurt their promotions. So I think the federal government is doing better at recognizing it’s something we have to stay on top of. And we have better cameras now with the aircraft, and we’ve got pictures we didn’t have before.”

• Earlier this year, the Pentagon announced the formation of a new UAP Task Force to study UFOs after the military acknowledged that pilots were encountering aircraft that might not have been made by humans. Leaked photos recently posted by The Debrief, showing a metallic object hovering 35,000 over the Atlantic Ocean, off the eastern coast of the United States in 2018 were reportedly studied by the task force. The aircraft was an “unidentified silver cube-shaped object”. They suggested that the craft could be “non-human,” “alien” or other “intelligences of unknown origin.”

• As reported in December, retired Israeli general Haim Eshed claimed that the United States and Israeli governments have been in contact with extraterrestrials for many years, but have not revealed this information to the public because they feel that the average citizen is not ready to know.

In a new documentary titled “The Phenomenon,” Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that UFOs and

potential alien activity have been covered up by the government for years.

“Why the federal government all these years has covered up, put brake pads on everything, stopped it, I think it’s very, very bad for our country,” Reid said in the documentary.

The former Senate majority leader has taken an interest in the topic for a long time and even obtained $22 million in taxpayer dollars to study UFOs through the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program while he was in office.

In a recent interview responding to questions about his belief in UFOs, Reid said, “Do we have all the answers? Absolutely not. But at least we know that thousands of people have reported these unusual occurrences over the decades. And as I have said, we cannot ignore what’s going on. Russia, China and France are all working on this. And I hope that we will pick up the ball and continue to work on this.”

He also commented on the footage that was taken of UFOs engaging with US Navy aircraft pilots.

In the footage, the objects are flying around 30,000 feet in the air at hypersonic speeds and showing no visible engines or exhaust plumes typical of any known aircraft currently on Earth.

“I’m happy that the Pentagon now allows its pilots to report these unusual occurrences. In the past, pilots have been afraid to acknowledge them because it could hurt their promotions. So I think the federal government is doing better at recognizing it’s something we have to stay on top of. And we have better cameras now with the aircraft, and we’ve got pictures we didn’t have before,” Reid said.

1:07 minute video of Harry Reid on UFOs from ‘The Phenomenon’ (‘1091 Pictures’ YouTube)

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

What Happens to Space Force After Trump?

December 25, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Samantha Masunaga December 15, 2020 (latimes.com)

• Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond says “proliferating technology” and “competitive interests” have changed space from a benign environment to “one in which we anticipate all aspects of human endeavor — including warfare.” The goals of Space Force include developing new capabilities, increasing cooperation and enabling a “lean and agile service.” Whether Space Force can achieve that mission is an open question. While Trump champions the initiative, he has done little to ensure it has the funding, staffing and authority to succeed. When he exits the White House next month, the Space Force’s trajectory remains unclear.

• Created last year as the first new armed service since 1947, Space Force has gained control of some space operations, but many others are still spread throughout the nation’s other military branches. Space Force is still technically part of the Air Force, just as the Marine Corps is part of the Navy. The Air Force’s Space Command is responsible for supporting and maintaining satellites for GPS, missile warning and nuclear command and control, as well as paying United Launch Alliance and SpaceX to launch national security satellites. “The whole point of this was to consolidate,” said Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. The US Army, US Navy, and especially the US Air Force all conduct space operations.

• Consolidating these disparate programs into the Space Force has been slow. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base in Florida will change their names and become the first two Space Force installations. Eventually, all Air Force space missions are supposed to follow suit. But there has been no progress on integrating the Army‘s or Navy’s space missions.

• The Pentagon Space Force budget is lean. With about 2,100 personnel as of November 1st, Space Force commanded a budget of $40 million in 2020. Meanwhile, the Air Force has more than 325,000 active duty personnel and a budget of $168 billion for 2020. ($14B of that was designated to the Space Force.) The Space Force will probably always be the smallest military service, Harrison said. “Space is more dictated by capabilities than mass,” he said. Space Force “shouldn’t try to organize itself in the way of these much larger services because that’s not what it is. That’s not what it’s going to grow into.” For fiscal year 2021, the Space Force is requesting a budget transfer from the Air Force of $15.3 billion. Over time, as space programs from other services start consolidating into the Space Force, their budgets should follow.

• But David Deptula, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies think tank, says that Space Force’s 2020 resources aren’t enough to carry out its mission of organizing, training and equipping forces to deter or defeat threats in space. US intelligence officials have warned that China and Russia have discussed developing new electronic warfare capabilities, which could have implications for U.S. military satellite communications or GPS satellite interference. “The nation is facing some very significant threats in the space realm,” says Deptula.

• “Space Force really needed to be stood up to remain competitive with the very real threats coming from our nearest adversaries,” said James Marceau, managing director of aerospace and defense at consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal, who has also served as a senior advisor to the Pentagon on major strategies including the Space Force. “We can’t afford to neglect that domain.”

• As the strategic role of satellites came to the forefront in the early 1990s, congressional leaders and military officials, including former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, considered consolidating space operations. In 2016, Representatives Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) began advocating for a “space corps.” But there wasn’t enough support in the U.S. Senate for the proposal. Then, in March 2018, Trump seized upon the idea and suggested creating a ‘Space Force’ in a speech to Marines at Air Station Miramar in San Diego. (Cooper would later say Trump “tried to hijack” the idea of the space corps.) Five month later, Vice President Mike Pence announced the creation of Space Force. It was included in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act and signed into law in December 2019.

• At this point, it’s “highly unlikely” that the Biden administration would try to eliminate the Space Force, Harrison said. It would require a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the president’s signature, he said. “I have not heard anyone seriously contemplating the idea of disestablishing it,” Harrison said. “It hasn’t even gotten a chance to get started yet.”

• “You’ve already transferred thousands of individuals into the Space Force,” said Doug Loverro, former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for space policy. “Can you imagine pulling the rug out from under them?” General Raymond says that he met with the Biden transition team in early December, and the conversation “was good”. So it appears that Space Force will be sticking around.

President Trump has a penchant for grandiose promises that go unfulfilled. So when he announced a

plan to establish a Space Force, there was some skepticism.

Then-Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), ranking member on a Senate committee that deals with aviation and space, disliked the idea of consolidating space programs from the other military branches, saying at the time there were “too many important missions at stake” to “rip the Air Force apart.”

The idea of the new service became fodder for late-night comedians and a Netflix sitcom.
The Space Force, however, was not merely a presidential musing. Created last year as the first new armed service since 1947, it was established with the mission of protecting U.S. interests in space from potential adversaries, be they rival nations or gobs of space junk.

Whether it can achieve that mission is an open question. Though Trump champions the initiative, he has done little to ensure it has the funding, staffing and authority to succeed. When he exits the White House next month, the Space Force’s trajectory remains unclear.

The Space Force has gained control of some space operations, but many others are still spread throughout the nation’s other military branches.

Within the Defense Department, the Air Force has the lion’s share of space programs and budget for space operations. It’s responsible for supporting and maintaining satellites for GPS, missile warning and nuclear command and control, as well as paying United Launch Alliance and SpaceX to launch national security satellites.

The Army and Navy also have their own space operations.

Consolidating these disparate programs into the Space Force has been slow. Some Air Force missions have transferred to Space Force control or are in the process of doing so — last week, Vice President Mike Pence announced that Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base in Florida would change their names and become the first two Space Force installations. Eventually, all Air Force space missions are supposed to follow suit. But there has been no progress on integrating the Army‘s or Navy’s space missions.

“The last thing you want … after all of this reorganization and creating a new military service is to continue to have the fragmentation of our space programs and space organizations across the military,” said Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “The whole point of this was to consolidate.”

Compared with the budgets and personnel of the other branches of the U.S. military, the Space Force is lean. And technically it’s part of the Air Force, just as the Marine Corps is part of the Navy.

Consisting of about 2,100 people as of Nov. 1, the Space Force commanded a budget of $40 million for its operations and maintenance in fiscal year 2020.

Meanwhile, the Air Force has more than 325,000 active duty personnel and a budget of $168 billion for fiscal 2020. (The Air Force designated almost $14 billion of that for space capabilities. These projects have since become part of the Space Force.)

The Space Force will probably always be the smallest military service, Harrison said.

“Space is more dictated by capabilities than mass,” he said. The Space Force “shouldn’t try to organize itself in the way of these much larger services because that’s not what it is. That’s not what it’s going to grow into.”

But the Space Force’s 2020 resources aren’t enough to carry out its mission of organizing, training and equipping forces to deter or defeat threats in space, said David Deptula, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies think tank.

For fiscal year 2021, the Space Force is requesting a budget transfer from the Air Force of $15.3 billion. And over time, as space programs from other services start consolidating into the Space Force, their budgets should follow.

“The nation is facing some very significant threats in the space realm,” Deptula said. “Let’s make sure that service is set up for success.”

U.S. intelligence officials have warned that China and Russia have discussed developing new electronic warfare capabilities, which could have implications for U.S. military satellite communications or GPS satellite interference. In 2007, China tested an anti-satellite weapon and destroyed one of its own inactive weather satellites.

“Space Force really needed to be stood up to remain competitive with the very real threats coming from our nearest adversaries,” said James Marceau, managing director of aerospace and defense at consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal, who has also served as a senior advisor to the Pentagon on major strategies including the Space Force. “We can’t afford to neglect that domain.”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

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.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

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.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE