Australia launches space defense agency

The Australian government announced on Tuesday the creation of a military space command, modeled after the US Space Force.

“Space is increasingly saturated and is already being disputed, not least because the boundaries between competition and conflict are increasingly blurred,” Defense Minister Peter Dutton said.

Speaking to the Australian Air Force, he stated that space “will acquire greater military importance in this century.”

This new space “armed arm”, called “Space Command”, will be small in its inception, the minister said, without giving figures, and the objective will be to counter the military ambitions of China and Russia in space, as well as all “countries that see space as a territory to be taken, rather than shared.”

The agency will be headed by Deputy Air Marshal Cath Roberts, who will oversee a team made up of members of the Australian army, navy and air forces, as well as private partners.

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