The U.S. is not prepared to fight a war in outer space, said the CEO of a government-funded think tank that is the military's leading adviser on space, Politico reported.
"We are now approaching a point where 'Star Wars' is not just a movie," said Steve Isakowitz, The Aerospace Corp. CEO. The U.S. should not take its position for granted, he added.
"That supremacy in space has enabled us to have the world's greatest war-fighting capability… whether it is our soldiers on the field, our drones that fly overhead, our bombers that travel around the world, intelligence we collect," Isakowitz told Politico.
"More and more every day, literally, we become more dependent on it. And our adversaries know that," Isakowitz added.
The Air Force oversees about 90 percent of the military's space operations and regularly conducts war games in space, including simulating possible attacks on U.S. satellites, the report said.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said he is concerned about making space a priority.
"They always say, 'We got this, we're planning for this in the future' but when you ask them to prioritize space this year, they can't," Rogers told Politico.
A shooting war would create debris in space, and no way exists to clear out the space junk that such battles would create.
"If deterrence fails, we all lose," an Air Force official said.
Isakowitz questioned whether the military's plans for new rockets and other space-based projects are realistic. "Can we do it all at once? Can we do it affordably?" Isakowitz asked in a separate Politico report.
President Donald Trump's National Security strategy, which called space a "vital interest," has helped, said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson.
"We have a president who has said now, publicly, that we have to expect that space will be a war-fighting domain. That's a very big deal," Wilson told Politico.
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