The U.S. Air Force is accelerating the building of the command and control structure necessary to fight and win a war in space against China and Russia, either alone or in combination.

The Air Force was goaded into stepping-up this critical element by an angry U.S. Congress that lambasted the service for its lackadaisical attitude as regards this potentially dangerous issue. Congressional leaders overseeing the air force criticized the service for not being properly prepared to fight in space, especially with the increasing militarization of this frontier by Russia and China.

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As key first steps, the air force announced a new general will serve as a space advisor on staff with the Air Force secretary and Chief of Staff.

The air force also made other organizational changes to meet the growing threat from Russia and China. Air Force commanders said the reorganization will help fund space war-related projects.

The general commanding the new U.S. space forces will "come to work every day focusing on this: making sure that we can organize, train, and equip our forces to meet the challenges in this domain," said Gen. John W. Raymond, Commander, Air Force Space Command.

In February, Gen. David Goldfein, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, and Gen. Raymond together wrote an op-ed, saying that in 2018, the Air Force will talk a lot about space and how it works closely with the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.

"We believe it is imperative that Americans understand the nature of what is at stake as we rapidly prepare to defend our satellites and networks from attack and develop capabilities that will deter future adversaries from trying."

But the clear distinction both generals want to get across is "There is no such thing as a war in space. There is just war. It's with an adversary and if it extends into space we have to figure out how to fight it."

They said the Air Force needs "to treat space just like the land, sea and air warfighting domains."

They pointed out the Air Force is "now leading the effort to preserve our use of space by preparing for the war that extends into space -- which we hope never comes."