Washington: Declaring that “space is a new war-fighting domain”, President Donald Trump has announced an ambitious plan to develop a space-based anti-missile defence system to track and destroy weapons-bearing rockets. In a speech at the Pentagon on Thursday, Trump said: “It’s new technology. It’s ultimately going to be a very, very big part of our defence and, obviously, of our offence.” While mired in a partial government shutdown, he said that his “upcoming budget will invest in a space-based missile defence layer”.
Trump had proposed last year the creation of a Space Force as a new branch of the military like the Air Force, Navy and Army. He said: “We will recognize that space is a new war-fighting domain, with the Space Force leading the way.” Trump’s speech and the Missile Defence Review document that he and Vice President Mike Pence presented at the military headquarters, did not give many details about the new space strategy and it was not clear if the plans called for placing in space the weapons to destroy the missiles. If that were to happen, it could start a new arms race but not violate the 1966 Outer Space Treaty that only bans placing nuclear and other mass-destruction weapons in outer space. The US has opposed a proposal by Russia and China to ban all weapons in space. It voted against a UN General Assembly resolution on ensuring that weapons were not placed in space. (IANS)