Illustration: Mountain PeopleOne point of agreement was that the first shots of the next world war would almost certainly be fired in space — with simultaneous volleys being exchanged in cyberspace, which increasingly overlaps with the space domain. More hostile types of attack include directed energy such as lasers or physical missiles, fired from the same space orbit or from the ground. As ever in the history of war and weaponry, the accelerating innovation in space has already triggered an arms race in some orbits, especially those relatively close to Earth. In an atmospheric analogy, US military satellites maneuver more like Boeing 747s (not all that nimbly, that is), while the US Space Force wants them to move like F-15s. This asymmetry explains why the US generally takes a different approach to space than Russia or China.

Source: Taipei Times March 31, 2026 17:46 UTC