The commander of the US Space Forces, General John Raymond, believes that all of them can pose a danger
WASHINGTON, September 27. /TASS/. The US military is monitoring more than 30 thousand objects in Earth orbit and believes that all of them can pose a danger. This was announced by the commander of the US Space Forces, General John Raymond, on Monday, speaking at a video conference organized by the Defense One publication.
"We track more than 30 thousand objects. I think it is noteworthy that historically we have been observing mostly space debris. The number of active satellites worldwide was very small," he said. "Today, in the light of the proliferation of small satellites and large satellite groupings, the number of active satellites has increased. Only a couple of years ago there were 1.5 thousand active satellites. Now this number is probably approaching 5 thousand."
When asked which part of these objects may pose a threat, the General replied: "Everything in space can be a threat." "There are still, perhaps, about half a million objects that are too small for us to monitor them," added the commander of the US Space Forces.
As Raymond stated, near-Earth outer space is becoming "increasingly congested, more contested, and competition is growing in it." According to him, the US military is closely monitoring what systems other countries use in space. "We need to understand what capabilities they have," he said.
Raymond also once again made the claim that Russian and Chinese satellites could pose a danger to American spacecraft. Commenting on Raymond's previous statements regarding the threats that, according to Washington, the Russian Federation's capabilities in outer space may pose to the United States, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow appreciates cooperation with Washington in space and hopes that it will not fall victim to Russophobia. He also noted that the very existence of Russia causes concern among some American military, but in vain, since Moscow stands for peace and cooperation. At the same time, Peskov called the Americans' fears completely groundless.
The US Space Force was established on December 20, 2019. They became the sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces and the first created after the formation of their modern structure in 1947.