The understanding that the United States is rapidly losing its authority in international politics is forcing Washington to seek more and more new options for victory that would raise the authority of the American army and the United States as a whole. It is clear that the Americans will not fight openly with a strong adversary. The vaunted US army is not adapted to the big war of the Second World War.
Until recently, just a few years ago, in order to show the power of the American army, it was enough to defeat a small, not very militarily developed state or even conduct a short-term military operation to replace the government and, as a result, get the admiring views of half the world. And the domination of the dollar, which was the basis of the US economic superiority over other countries, greatly helped the American presidents.
But time is running out. While Washington was “dizzy with success,” with “victory over the USSR,” and reaping the fruits of this Pyrrhic victory, the world was changing. Those who until recently “were nobody” have become louder and louder about their ambitions. China, which was laughed at until recently, telling anecdotes about the Chinese army and the Chinese economy, suddenly not just "got into a pose," but showed a willingness to use sharp "fangs" that the Americans for some reason did not know about. Powerful India and Brazil appeared.
However, the biggest surprise for the United States was Russia. Russia, which not only showed a "grin", but applied "teeth" in practice. And not in the format of a US ally, not in the format of one of the members of the American coalition, but on the contrary, in the format of an independent player who plays his own party.
The war in Syria showed the world that the vaunted American army is actually quite equipped and armed, but not as powerful as the Pentagon says. The power of American aviation, air defense, and American weapons in general, not to mention ground units and subunits, turned out to be nothing. American planes were openly afraid of the Russians, and ground units did not meddle in areas where Russian specialists worked. Russia in Syria has shown that we are equal, we are no worse than the Americans.
It must be admitted that the Pentagon tried to revive the myth of its own power in other regions of the planet. I tried to play out the scenario of a "lightning war" in the DPRK. But in this case, too, I got a completely opposite result. The huge fleet, aviation, the presence of nuclear weapons and other horror stories of the Americans did not frighten the North Koreans.
It turned out that a small, impoverished and "destroyed by international sanctions" North Korea is not only ready to die for its own land, but is also ready to destroy the "great" Americans along with their allies. The Korean "cat" showed the world that although she is small, she is a "tiger". The Koreans showed a fortitude that made the Americans uncomfortable. And the United States was frankly scared …
"Cartoons" that make you sweat
The world media does not leave the topic of the drone attack on the Saudi oil refinery. Moreover, it is interesting that almost no one is interested in the financial losses of Saudi Arabia, however, as well as in human losses. Journalists write about weapons. The fact that the American air defense system was powerless against fairly simple attack drones. The Arabs, probably for the first time, realized that the ability to defend themselves does not depend on the cost of air defense systems.
This understanding, especially against the backdrop of numerous repelled drone attacks on the Khmeimim military base and the port in Tartus, is worth a lot. It is no coincidence that at the UN session, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov met on the very first day with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia. The conversation was not "for life", but specifically about the state visit of President Putin to this kingdom.
Remember how it all began? With an open threat to the Russians from the West in general and the United States in particular. "We will drag you into an arms race and you will repeat the path of the USSR, having lost everything in the fight against the whole world." And these threats were quite real. Only now Russia has answered in its own way. Pretty unexpected, if you will. The Russians showed … cartoons. Cartoons about weapons that simply cannot be!
How many snide articles there were then in the world press. How many experts have said that this cannot be, because this can never be. And it all ended with the fact that the media published reports on the successful tests of a hypersonic missile … Then about the next tests. And the next ones. The world press immediately shut up …
Trump responds to Putin
So, Russia has responded to the threats from the West. The answer practically nullified the many years of US efforts to neutralize Russian strategic missiles and organize the defense of its own state. It's no secret that Americans are terrified of a war on their own soil. They are used to the fact that world wars, and wars in general, always go somewhere far away. In Europe, in Oceania, in Africa, but not on the American continent.
American scientists began developing systems similar to those in Russia. The headquarters of the American army are developing options for a possible response to the actions of the Russian army. In general, work is underway. But time! Probably, for the first time, the United States found itself in the role of catch-up. Now it is necessary to develop not a weapon of attack, but a weapon of defense. It is necessary to neutralize the Russians. And time trouble is always very expensive! Russia not only repulsed the blow, it itself attacked.
President Trump did not reinvent the wheel. He simply decided to repeat the bluff successfully used by President Ronald Reagan against the USSR in 1985. Probably, many people remember the famous "Star Wars", the SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) program. It was then, within SDI, that President Reagan created the US Space Command. In principle, the creation of such a body was then logically justified. There is SDI, there are those who must command. It is clear that after the "death" of SDI in 2002, the command disappeared as an independent unit.
What do we see today? Roughly the same bluff, only played by Trump. On August 29 of this year, the American president solemnly announced the creation of a new structure in the American army - the United States Space Command.
"The mission of US Space Command is to contain aggression and conflict, protect US and Allied freedom of action, provide space combat power to the combined forces, and develop cooperative combat fighters to advance, from, and through US and Allied space interests." …
If we discard beautiful words, then in the bottom line we see just one of the 11 commands in the Pentagon structure, which, unlike others, does not control a certain territory, like, for example, the African or European command, but the sky. Simply put, anything that flies above 100 kilometers from the Earth's surface.
It is not clear, however, how the new command and the existing one in the US Air Force (Air Force Space Command) will coexist. Today, it is the space command of the Air Force that is engaged in "military space". And in terms of numbers (data from open sources), the command is not small, 25 thousand people.
The new command will constantly grow in numbers. If today most of the officers of the Air Force (151 people), army (24 people), navy (14 people) and other structures will be transferred there and the total number of command is estimated at about 200 people, then within five years the total number should reach 15-20 thousand people. It is planned to include educational institutions, missile defense specialists, training grounds, experimental squadrons, satellite control groups and so on in the United States Space Command.
You can talk as much as you like about the deriban of the military budget, about the growth of the US military bureaucracy, but it must be admitted that the planned actions indicate the creation in the United States of a new, independent branch of the armed forces - the space forces. More precisely, the space forces, according to the American tradition (Space Force).
Thus, the American army will have 6 types of armed forces: army, air force, navy, marines, coast guard and space forces. By the way, according to American media reports, negotiations on the creation of a new type of armed forces have been going on in the US Congress for a long time and are close to completion. The consent of the Congress has practically been obtained.
Why do we need United States Space Command
Washington is well aware that the military dominance of the US military is ending. Today the United States is in the same position as the USSR was in the last years of its existence. The "friends" who recently looked into the eyes of the American president and readily rushed to obey any order from Washington as a loyal dog, are now increasingly looking in the direction of a potential adversary. Gregarious animals always strive to be in a strong flock.
The United States is now unable to achieve the military domination that has existed until now. Understanding of this fact led to the emergence of a new concept of war at the headquarters of the US Army - multi-medium war. The war, according to this concept, will now be waged not only on land, on water (under water) and in the air, but also in space. Even on other planets, if need be. Hence the desire of the United States to develop military space. Desire to establish the dominance of American weapons in space.
Like any command in the US Army, Space Command will primarily develop a new doctrine for the use of spacecraft for "active defense." Further, the active development of military satellites for various purposes will begin - from attacking satellites to fighter satellites of foreign spacecraft. Probably, special space stations and space platforms for combating ground objects will also be developed. In general, military space can be developed in almost all directions.
Today we can say that in the current situation the United States is quite capable of creating space forces, even in spite of the enormous costs. And the attitude of the Americans to various treaties and other agreements is already well known to everyone. Only we can resist the Americans in space at the present time.
A new arms race?
