USA: Star Wars and Cyberarmia

Bloomberg has become interested in the theme of military developments in the field of space and cyberspace. These directions were recorded in the US defense budget for 2019, recently signed by US President Donald Trump. In this regard, Bloomberg has published an article by James Stavridis , a retired admiral of the US Navy.

Trump’s proposal to increase the US space military potential has become the subject of ridicule in evening television programs, writes Stavridis. This idea is scolded for the fact that this is another unnecessary bureaucratic project, and that it will become a competitor for the private sector, and that this can lead to a dangerous militarization of space. But all these claims, according to Stavridis, are unfounded. Many of those who criticize these undertakings are either simply weakly informed, or consider them bad only because Trump proposed it. But disagreement with all Trump's agenda points is not yet a reason to consider some of the points reasonable.

James Stavridis / Flickr.com

The idea of ​​a cosmos militarization is actually the idea of ​​a new military branch along with the army and the sea fleet. Already existing military structures resist this, as well as fork, especially the air-air sphere, because the emergence of such a large direction of development will inevitably lead to the redistribution of resources. In the same way in the middle of the XX century. The army and sea fleet opposed the creation of the air fleet. The arguments were approximately the same: unnecessary bureaucracy, unnecessary developments, additional militarization.

Thus, according to the author, the buildup of military space potential is an important matter. But even more important military innovation, he believes is the creation of an army for cyberspace. Now military operations in cyberspace are a very spontaneous phenomenon. Each service has its own personnel, which from time to time are involved in this area. But a generalization is necessary for better coordination and efficiency. The need to increase military power in cyberspace is dictated by the same reasons as in the case of space. But here the matter is more urgent, because the digital world is already largely militarized.

Forum for cybersecurity of technical specialists NATO / Flickr.com

This is noticeable because the army and the fleet have cyber divisions, and because large powers - Russia and China - have already formed a significant cyberpotential. The first swallow was the Russian war with Georgia in 2008, when, in addition to traditional military means, cyber attacks were also involved. Other enemy, from the point of view of the United States, nations like Iran and North Korea also develop their capabilities in the digital sphere.

Unlike the creation of a space navy, the militarization of cyberspace does not require huge injections of resources. For cyberism, five to ten thousand employees would have enough, who would cost a half -million land army in their field. The task is to highlight them a single command and develop a single official culture, just like this happens with other military spheres.

Forum for cybersecurity of technical specialists NATO / Flickr.com

In other words, cyberism is priority in the short term, the author believes. However, Trump is absolutely right in the fact that it is necessary to start work on the military development of space and cyberspace at the same time. The general between them is that both directions are based on the latest technical developments. The space project will require much more time and investments, but in order to be prepared to repel space attacks in the long run, you need to begin development now.