The Air Force is putting 'tremendous emphasis' on preparing for war in space

originally posted by: Archivalist
a reply to: Forensick

That aside, the discussion of preparation in response to an eventual threat is appropriate.

One day we will have to face a military conquest from a civilization utilizing space as it's battlefront.

It may be a branch of our own, or entirely from somewhere else... Ultimately... That is a question of when, not if.

Also, I have reason to believe, with high confidence, that we have begun to receive so called "First Contact" signals. There are artificial signals from elsewhere, intersecting with Earth. I have proof beyond a reasonable doubt on this, but I refuse to divulge it at this time. (Another group has the responsibility of publication for this finding. I am waiting for them. Not BS. Fairly certain there are several observatories that have come to the same conclusion. I don't know who is publishing the meat and potatoes first, but I know there is one team I am expecting to hear from, soon.)

That means we are expecting a thread on that as soon as it has passed the hurdle. I would be seriously interested in reviewing the evidence.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: lostbook

Of course they have their own Space Commands. They both have their own satellites, so why wouldn't they? The Army has their own too.

He who controls the high ground, controls the battle. Antisattelite weapons are propagating, and becoming more and more sophisticated. Potential opponents have had 16 years to study our doctrine, and the biggest thing that has been learned is our over dependence on satellites. Kill them, and you hamstring our military as it is now.

Interesting.....thanks, Z. I wonder why if each branch of the Military has its own Space Command and if so why not unite them all into one Command..? Pool the resources. Even though the Air Force, supposedly, has a Space Command which is much more advanced than anyone else. That could just be a rumor.

Remember that guy that hacked the NASA servers?

metro.co.uk...

According to his hacks of over a dozen NASA computers and military servers, we have had a space fleet and presence in space for quite some time.

This could just be some agencies finally preparing us for what's already been going on.

a reply to: dothedew
Nothing has been going on. The guy was high at the time.

originally posted by: 2Faced
Looks like they blew the dust off the cover of the SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) project folder.

"The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union."

The acadamics at the time said at the time it wouldn't work but were happy to take the research funds anyway. CPU's at the time were too slow (state of the art was an ~60 MHz Intel 80386/80387 or i860). Lasers would melt down before they could deliver strong enough beams of energy. Communications between satellites were slow and sluggish.

Naturally, the left-wing student activists were out protesting and calling for boycotts on those universities that did take research funding.

Now we have multi-core superscalar/out-of-order execution CPU's at 2 GHz+, GPU's, DSP's and all sorts of other AI/vision chips.

originally posted by: dothedew
Remember that guy that hacked the NASA servers?

metro.co.uk...

According to his hacks of over a dozen NASA computers and military servers, we have had a space fleet and presence in space for quite some time.

This could just be some agencies finally preparing us for what's already been going on.

He found the words "Non-Terrestial Officer" and assumed those meant out-in-space officers.

We have non-terrestial mobile phone networks in Europe. Those aren't interplanetary/interstellar/intergalactic long distance calls, but simply mobile network base stations on ferries and cruise liners:

community.giffgaff.com...

originally posted by: stormcell

We have non-terrestial mobile phone networks in Europe. Those aren't interplanetary/interstellar/intergalactic long distance calls, but simply mobile network base stations on ferries and cruise liners:

We all know that non-terrestrial mobile phone networks are for E.T. so he doesn't have to build that speak & spell record player phone home device next time he gets left behind!!

originally posted by: Kurokage

originally posted by: stormcell

We have non-terrestial mobile phone networks in Europe. Those aren't interplanetary/interstellar/intergalactic long distance calls, but simply mobile network base stations on ferries and cruise liners:

We all know that non-terrestrial mobile phone networks are for E.T. so he doesn't have to build that speak & spell record player phone home device next time he gets left behind!!

Of course!!! lol

Does this mean that some day we will see "Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion"?

Mankind might as well start on trashing space.

a reply to: roadgravel

the us and im sure at least one other has a space force.

i think most ufo's 90-95% are just tests or overflights.


i dont think we have vast fleets of interstellar ships but i would put money on the fact we have easy access to space and could defend our assets if need be.



most of the ufos people see are always going somewhere, or are over cities or military sites or other interesting areas....

a reply to: lostbook

Because the services aren't going to put their priorities under one umbrella. The Air Force has the largest, and is in charge of Space Fence, which tracks pretty much everything in orbit, manages the GPS constellations, missile early warning, etc. The Navy focuses on watching ships at sea, weather, etc. The Army is mostly focused on missile defense. If they put all that under one umbrella, they're either going to end up with a command the size of the Pentagon, or someone is losing priority.

originally posted by: yuppa
a reply to: Zaphod58


Dont do it Anakin...Ihave the highground.

Not from a certain point of view...

originally posted by: Barnalby

originally posted by: yuppa
a reply to: Zaphod58


Dont do it Anakin...Ihave the highground.

Not from a certain point of view...

Only a sith talks like that.!

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: lostbook

Because the services aren't going to put their priorities under one umbrella. The Air Force has the largest, and is in charge of Space Fence, which tracks pretty much everything in orbit, manages the GPS constellations, missile early warning, etc. The Navy focuses on watching ships at sea, weather, etc. The Army is mostly focused on missile defense. If they put all that under one umbrella, they're either going to end up with a command the size of the Pentagon, or someone is losing priority.

Ok, thanks for your input. You know this stuff better than anyone on ATS. In your opinionis there a space "warfront" brewing? Will weaponized satellites be the norm?

a reply to: lostbook

There absolutely is. We, like many other times, had quite a lead and handed it away. They shot down a dead satellite using an F-15 in 1984 or 86, and Congress immediately said it violated treaties and killed the program.

Since then we've seen blinding lasers, lasers in development that can outright kill satellites, new missiles, and possible hunter-killer satellites. And here we sit with the Aegis BMD, and nothing else in the public world.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: lostbook

There absolutely is. We, like many other times, had quite a lead and handed it away. They shot down a dead satellite using an F-15 in 1984 or 86, and Congress immediately said it violated treaties and killed the program.

Since then we've seen blinding lasers, lasers in development that can outright kill satellites, new missiles, and possible hunter-killer satellites. And here we sit with the Aegis BMD, and nothing else in the public world.

By Hunter Killer satellites do you mean satellites that attack other satellites? Because that's where I think all of this is headed.

a reply to: lostbook

Technically, they're "repair" satellites. Their official use given is to move to other satellites and make minor repairs in orbit without requiring people to do it. But yeah, it would be a tiny thing to turn them into hunter-killer satellites.

a reply to: lostbook

By Hunter Killer satellites do you mean satellites that attack other satellites? Because that's where I think all of this is headed.

Yes, he does. However, it's probably the least efficient method of killing a sat unless its in geo.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: lostbook

Technically, they're "repair" satellites. Their official use given is to move to other satellites and make minor repairs in orbit without requiring people to do it. But yeah, it would be a tiny thing to turn them into hunter-killer satellites.

So, are satellites the only concern as relates to the op?: The Air Force is putting 'tremendous emphasis' on preparing for war in space......

Could there be a battle for resources in Space, for dominance in Space? What are we doing to prepare?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: lostbook

There absolutely is. We, like many other times, had quite a lead and handed it away. They shot down a dead satellite using an F-15 in 1984 or 86, and Congress immediately said it violated treaties and killed the program.

Since then we've seen blinding lasers, lasers in development that can outright kill satellites, new missiles, and possible hunter-killer satellites. And here we sit with the Aegis BMD, and nothing else in the public world.

But isnt that enough? We can all obsess about this or that largley experimental program and how scary it is what Russia or China might be able to do at some point. But the reality is, the US is far ahead in the game when it comes to actual deployed anti satellite weapons. The RIM-161C is already capable of hitting targets in very low earth orbit and the US has deployed more than 100 of them. RIM-161D being procured now will dramatically increase the performance envelope, it will take another five years of continued procurement but US will dominate LEO with Block IIA alone. But SM-3 development will continue of course, Block IIB will completely redefine the engagement envelope.

ASAT is not the SM-3 primary mission of course, but if you think about it, its actually an awesome solution when it comes to affordability. SM-3 procurement and development will happen anyway due to missile defense needs and you dont have to invest a single additional Dollar in dedicated ASAT systems. Thats 10, 20 billion US-$ saved then and there. At least.
Also, dont forget the GBIs. They should be perfectly capable of hitting everything upthere safe for satellites in geostationary orbits.

Of course the US will never advertise this, existing treaties and all, but they are far, far ahead of Russia and China when it comes to deployed, operational systems, even excluding anything which might or might not exist on the black side.
And the thing is, there actually arent all that many russian or chinese military satellites in LEO once you get down to it. Less than 100 combined. This will be well within the capabilities of Aegis and GMD a couple of years down the road.