China’s progress in space is advancing five times faster than US, claims Air Force general

Washington: In next decade, China would achieve supremacy over space and operationalize with defense capability claims senior officer of the US Air Force. Lieutenant General Steve Kwast, commander of Maxwell Air Force Base warned that China’s progress in space technology is currently advancing five times than that of US. Lt. Gen Kwast has expressed concern that the US is not progressing enough and even the policies are not aggressive enough.

Lt. Gen Kwast, in an interview to a private news channel, pointed out about China’s aggressive space programs. Two years back, China had announced its ‘New Space Force’ to build military capabilities in space (Low Earth Orbit). Later China started to develop weapons and is currently working on building a ‘navy in space’ that would work even beyond Earth’s gravity, Kwast said.

US Air Force officers pointed out that in 2017 alone, China had planned to launch 30 rockets in space including an ambitious ‘Alien Contact’ program.

Lt. Gen Kwast said, “In my best military judgment, China is on a 10-year journey to operationalize military capabilities in space and US on a 50-year journey. However, at the same time, he claimed that US is capable to operationalize Space Force in 3 to 5 years. In the beginning of this year, Lt. Gen Kwast had presented the “Fast Space” report to the Government, which included a plan to achieve dominance of US in space.

US Air Force has advised to enhance public-private partnerships and to relax the regulatory environment. Lt. Gen Kwast mentioned the need of a “Kitty Hawk” moment which could begin a new era in space. He recalled the efforts of Wright Brothers who took their first successful flight in a place called ‘Kitty Hawk’.

With reference to Lt. Gen Kwast interview, as reported by news agencies the US Air Force has defined space as the new “War Fighting Domain”. US Air Force Secretary Heather A. Wilson announced that US will step up to increase space capabilities and that US will gain right of movement and attack in space.

A month ago, US Vice President Pence has claimed that Russia and China has developed Space Technology to neutralize US Defense Surveillance, Transportation and Communication systems by developing jamming and hacking technologies.