Future Wars Could Stretch From the Seabed to Cislunar Space, America’s Top General Warns

• The U.S. military is preparing for a future where conflict could extend to cislunar space, with General Dan Caine warning that adversaries may track U.S. forces in real time using advanced surveillance technologies.
• The U.S. Space Force has launched space weapons into Earth’s orbit, prompting a shift in military focus toward monitoring activities beyond conventional Earth orbit.
• General Todd Benson emphasized that the emergence of space-control weapons raises legal questions about the use of kinetic and non-kinetic weaponry in cislunar space, with no clear answers to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty’s restrictions on military activities in space.
• The U.S. military is adapting to hyper-transparent warfare, where autonomous systems and AI are reshaping the battlefield, requiring military operations without secure areas or uninterrupted supply channels.
• NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a mysterious cold spot around a new crater, highlighting the complexity of space surveillance and the challenges of monitoring activities in cislunar space.
• The U.S. is expanding its focus beyond Earth orbit into cislunar space, with Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon noting that China’s activities in Earth’s orbit are driving the push for enhanced detection and tracking capabilities.
• The U.S. military is transitioning to a future where conflicts could unfold in space, with the need for agile, optimized, and high-low mix of combat capabilities to generate and deliver lethality in contested environments.
• The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits military activities on celestial bodies but does not address military capabilities in space, creating legal ambiguities about the use of space-control weapons.
• The U.S. military is adapting to the 21st-century warfare environment, emphasizing the need for operations in spaces where concealment is limited and surveillance is pervasive.
• The future of warfare will require military forces to operate in an increasingly transparent battlefield, where the ability to see, understand, decide, and act first will determine advantage.

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