Major General Andrei Sterlin, head of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, is concerned about U.S. plans to weaponize outer space.

“The Pentagon considers space as a potential theatre of military operations and it [demands] complete freedom of manoeuvre,” he said. “The U.S. has refused to hold talks on the Russian-Chinese draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space and on the formation of an international legal framework,” Sterlin said.

This Treaty will maintain outer space to be free of space-based weapons and will be open for peaceful research and development by all states without exception.

Risks to Russian and Chinese security, and to the U.S.

Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov has expressed concerns about Washington’s aspirations to place weapons in space, because this action would potentially pose risks to the security of both Russia and China.

According to General Joseph Dunford, former Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. still perceives that there are major adversaries with capabilities for weaponization of space — currently including Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.

Dunford believes these countries have capabilities that threaten US space capabilities.

Space must not become the “next war-fighting domain”

On Dec. 17, 2019, during an impeachment inquiry against President Trump, the U.S. Congress passed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorized the U.S. Space Force to be an independent military branch under the Department of the Air Force, included in a $738 billion budget.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla said the bill “accelerates investment in efforts to modernize our armed forces, including creating hypersonic weapons, 5G [cellular network technology], cyber, long-range missiles and new equipment.”

On Dec. 20, 2019, President Donald Trump signed the Act into law. Trump  has made it clear that from his current perspective, space will be “the next war-fighting domain.”

Sources: Sputnik News, Defense News, Military Times

Updated Dec. 21 to include signing into law.