The Australian government created “Space Command” on Tuesday, a new defense agency with echoes of the US Space Force entrusted with ensuring the country’s role in an “already contested” cosmos.

Military Minister Peter Dutton stated that the new defense arm would be modest at first, but he did not provide specific staffing or budget figures.

He mentioned this in an address to the Australian Air Force that “space will undoubtedly become a domain that takes on greater military significance in this century”.

“Space is becoming more congested and is already contested, particularly as the boundaries between competition and conflict become increasingly blurred through grey-zone activities,” the minister stated.

Dutton positioned Space Command as a direct challenge to China and Russia’s interplanetary military ambitions, naming both countries as well as all “countries that view space as a territory for their takeover, rather than one to be shared” in his speech.

Air Vice-Marshal Cath Roberts, a “self-professed science fiction buff,” would lead Space Command, which will include personnel from Australia’s Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as private contractors.

Dutton stated that the agency will “initially be modest,” but that Australia will require “a Space Force in the future,” a reference to the US military formed by President Donald Trump in 2019.
Space Command opens the stage for close coordination between the United States and Australia in yet another theater, only months after the two nations signed a new military relationship, AUKUS, with the United Kingdom.

As an election approaches, Australia’s conservative government has been laser-focused on the military, pledging earlier this month to raise the country’s defense force to 80,000 troops by 2040.