It was in December 2019 that the United States launched its space force with 2,501 guardians and 77 operating spacecraft. Touted to be the smallest armed service in the United States, the space force aims to assure the dominance of the country in the space, and it is also equipped to combat the threats from deep space.
Several people in the world believe that the US is the first country to launch such a force. However, this is factually incorrect, as Russia had launched a similar force decades ago to uphold the space sovereignty of the nation.
Russian space force: All you need to know
It was in 1967 that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) launched the Troops of Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defence. This division of the army was later reorganized as the Ministry of Defence Space Units in 1982. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was formed in 1992, and in the same year, the Russian space force was created.
After five years of operation, the Russian space force was dissolved in 1997. Later, the Russian Space Forces were officially reborn on June 1, 2001, and it started operating as an independent division of the Russian military. However, this military branch was again dissolved in 2011. The country relaunched the space force again in 2015 as part of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
Why space force is considered a joke by people?
Even though world powers like Russia and the United States are pouring millions and billions to operate their space force, several people consider this branch of the military as a joke. According to these people, the entire concept of the space force is being inspired from Hollywood movies where aliens invade the earth to create colonies.
Recently, Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies addressed this mindset and made it clear that this attitude of people could create serious problems for the functioning of the space force that was created with high ambitions.
